Pictured above: A bouquet of flowers was presented to Joan
Goodwin, Housing Liaison Board Chairman, to mark the first
anniversary of Willmott Dixon's contract with Birmingham City
Council. Joan is pictured with, left to right, Les Shortman,
general manager of Willmott Dixon South, Chris Cooper, regional
customer and community manager and Gary Harbun, partnership manager
with Birmingham City Council
Willmott Dixon Partnership's south Birmingham branch has
completed its first year in partnership with Birmingham City
Council, having carried out 90,000 repairs to housing across the
southern districts of the city.
Since the start of its contract with the council Willmott Dixon
has also repaired 2,250 empty properties to prepare them for new
tenants.
Willmott Dixon Partnerships is currently working with Birmingham
City Council to repair and maintain 60,000 properties in the city.
It won the contract for the south of the city, in addition to
working on the Council's behalf in north Birmingham. It now covers
Edgbaston, Hall Green, Northfield, Selly Oak, Ladywood, Erdington,
Perry Barr and Sutton Coldfield. The aim is to reduce the cost of
this service by £47m over the five year terms of the two
contracts.
The maintenance and repairs specialist marked the occasion by
presenting one of the area's most active tenants, Joan Goodwin,
with a bunch of flowers to say 'thank you' for her support in the
community over the last 12 months.
Joan, age 77 and from the Yardley Wood area, has been heavily
involved with Birmingham City Council since the early 1980s and is
actively involved in many boards and committees, dedicating her
time to giving a voice to residents in the local area.
Joan, who is chair of the City Housing Liaison Board, said: "The
Willmott Dixon team are very helpful and I enjoy working closely
with them to ensure that the residents have their say when it comes
to the community projects the team carry out. The community
projects have been welcomed and greatly received all over the city.
They work hard to leave a lasting legacy in the area and the
improvement that has been carried out in our area is
remarkable."
Les Shortman, general manager at the Birmingham south branch,
said: "These repair figures really show how successful the last
year has been for us, and it proves that we work hard with the
council to ensure that local residents are happy with the service
we provide. We wanted to thank Joan as she is a very active and
valued member of the community and she is seen as the voice for the
residents."
Gary Harbun, partnership manager with Birmingham City Council,
said, "Since we awarded the repairs contract in 2010 to Willmott
Dixon, we have seen considerable improvements to the work that has
been carried out. Our partnership with Willmott Dixon is strong,
with constant communication. We initially worked with Willmott
Dixon on our contract in the north of the city but they were also
successful when we tendered our south Birmingham contract, a year
ago. The standard of the south has been matched by the quality we
were seeing in the north and we hope that this partnership will
continue to go from strength to strength."
Willmott Dixon Group is one of the UK's largest privately-owned
capital works, regeneration and support services companies.
With over 158 years of experience, the company provides services
within the built environment to Government, registered social
landlords, local authorities and private sector clients throughout
the UK.
Willmott Dixon Partnerships works with social housing landlords,
currently providing support services to over 120,000 homes, 1,200
public buildings and 50 commercial properties across the UK.