Housing committee approves £5.1m spend on windows and doors on council estates in Sheffield

Sheffield City Council’s housing policy committee members were told about a plan to commission a contract with a single service provider for a period of up to four years with an estimated value of £5.154m over the next four years for the supply and fit of external doors on the council’s social housing estate.

One of the main reasons for this, a document published ahead of the meeting reveals, is that the council’s current arrangement with contractors for new door and window installations is not as efficient as it could be.

The report says: “It is expected that the new arrangement of having the supply and fitting of doors/windows undertaken by a single service provider will provide a more efficient and streamlined service to residents.

“It will reduce the amount of time officers are required to organise the different aspects of the current arrangements and reduce the current wait time for residents requiring a new door or window.

“It will also remove the requirement of storing doors and windows at our Manor Lane depot and the associated officer time loading, unloading and storing the doors and windows intended for installation by the service provider.

“Crucially, it will also deliver better value for money.”

At the meeting, Cllr Alison Norris (Woodhouse, Labour and Co-Operative) asked whether this would mean the commission of a new specification of communal doors and potentially bin store doors “where (there is) repeated break in of those doors”.

She said: “What we’ve got at the moment is broken frequently and repaired frequently, which is an on-going cost for us and an on-going security issue for the tenants.”

She was told that the specification would be reviewed.

Members were also told that the contract would cover the “whole range of diverse properties, door types and window types”.

Cllr Paul Turpin (Gleadless Valley, The Green Party) said he wanted to amend the recommendation and wanted to make sure the well-established Sheffield companies would get the contracts.

He added the contract should be split into two and the company must be from within the boundaries of Sheffield.

He was told that procurement law wouldn’t allow the council to put a boundary on it but what they can do and what they do when scoring (social value), they give priority to local businesses.