A sixth successive profitable year for the Property Services Division (PSD) with £1TBC delivered to the Group, in what can only be described as difficult trading conditions for the economy as a whole. PSD provide repairs and maintenance services to the Group’s subsidiaries and to a growing number of external organisations including the general public, Lancaster University and University of Central Lancashire.There have been a number of notable achievements on the year, including:
Consultation with tenant forums on the repairs service including appointments, choices on planned works, priority times, and right first time completions.
Over 45,000 repair jobs have been completed for the internal clients in the categories of Emergency (10394) , Urgent (13177) and Routine (21538). Over £11.5 million has been spent on improvements including boiler replacements, new kitchens and bathrooms, gas servicing and painting.
Progress Plus, delivering the provision of boiler and heating maintenance cover has continued to grow in the year and now has over 1500 customers.
Best value and value for money remain at the core of the service and during the year the benefits of the strategic material procurement have continued to deliver benefits in terms of aggregated purchasing and improved efficiency of sourcing consumables through our dedicated stores facility with C&W Berry Ltd.
We continue to invest in local labour initiatives with our involvement in the Eric Wright Learning Foundation, designed to give year ten pupils an experience of both joinery and wet trades before they leave school.
People and their skills remain our main asset and we continue to invest in training. This year we will employ 15 apprentices across 4 stages of training in Electrical and Plumbing skills
The departure of the Director of Property Services during the year has provided an opportunity to review how property services are delivered across the group.The intention is to build upon an excellent base and this will be realised from 2011 onwards.
