6 July 2021 | 4 minutes read

Cobalt Housing has awarded three new contracts for repairs and maintenance services to its 5900 homes in North Liverpool after an extensive procurement process with the support of Rand Associates as procurement consultants.

During the process, we have listened to tenant feedback and recognise that a quality repairs and maintenance service is the most important thing for many tenants. You have told us that repairs are taking too many visits to complete, and that good communication between Cobalt, our contractors and our tenants is the ‘golden thread’. We understand the areas we need to improve on and are confident that as we award the new contracts, we can ensure that we’re providing the best possible service to you.

The repairs and maintenance contracts were split into three lots in the tender process, and we are delighted to inform you that we have now awarded the contracts. From the 1st August 2021, your new repairs, maintenance and servicing contractors will be:

  • Responsive Maintenance and Voids – Housing Maintenance Solutions (HMS)
  • Gas Reactive and Gas Servicing – Sure Maintenance Ltd
  • Electrical Safety – Sure Maintenance Ltd

The contracts will be fixed for 3 years but with the option to extend up to a maximum of 7 years. A huge thank you to all tenants who were involved in the process. Until the 1st August, all services will remain the same, including getting in touch with us to report a repair.

Project teams with staff from Cobalt, HMS and Sure Maintenance have been working hard over the past few months to ensure a smooth transition to the new contract, with new IT systems, workforces and suppliers. Please bear with us in the early stages as we migrate to our new service, but we are confident that tenants will see an improvement to our repairs and maintenance service.

An improved service 

We are confident that HMS and Sure Maintenance will deliver an improved repairs and maintenance service to Cobalt tenants, with:

  • a high-quality repairs service to Cobalt tenants completing repairs in a single visit wherever possible
  • availability of 2-hour appointment slots
  • emergency repairs attended to within 2 hours
  • appointments that are monitored to ensure they are kept at all times
  • for Sure works: extended appointments scheduled 7 days per week in recognition of customer demand
  • text communication as repairs progress, for example when repairs are appointed, or the operative is on their way to a job
  • issuing of appointments on site in the event of follow on works required
  • co-ordinated gas & electrical servicing appointments (where feasible) to minimise disruption
  • ability for tenants to rearrange appointments electronically

Alan Rogers, CEO at Cobalt Housing, said:

“Given the experiences of the last 18 months, I am delighted that we have new contracts in place that will deliver the best possible services to tenants and that both HMS and Sure Maintenance will help us keep our homes safe and secure. This will help and support all the other work going on to create the thriving places that people choose to live and want to stay.”

Dave Woods, Director of Operations at Cobalt Housing, said:

“This is an exciting time for Cobalt and the award of these contracts has come after a long and very detailed tender process, which was made all the more complicated by the restrictions of the pandemic. However, we are delighted to appoint HMS and Sure Maintenance as our new delivery partners and know they are as committed as we are to delivering high-quality services to our tenants and communities.”

Kieran Timmins, Chair of Cobalt Housing’s Board, said:

“As a board we are absolutely committed to investing in maintaining our current homes and making sure all our residents get an excellent repairs service. I’m delighted we will be working with Sure and HMS, both locally based and sharing our values , to deliver that service. I look forward to seeing the innovation and improvements they can bring and how they will work with us to deliver jobs and training for our communities, especially our young people.”

Hannah, one of our Involved Tenants, said:

“We’re pleased to see that Cobalt has committed to starting the contract on 1st August, and we appreciate that there is a lot of work involved in switching over to the two new contractors before then, in order to get all services up and running effectively.”

To learn more about your new repairs, maintenance and servicing contractors, please click here. There is also a form included at the bottom of this page where you can send us your questions to be featured in our upcoming Q&A!

Useful links

Housing Maintenance Solutions (HMS)

Sure Maintenance Ltd 

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Welcome to Cobalt’s new website!

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Congratulations to our Tenancy Welfare Officer!

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