Housing framework event is our biggest Breakfast Club ever

Date added: 13 January 2012

Our first Breakfast Club of 2012, held at Sandwell Council House on Thursday 12 February, was our biggest morning meeting ever. More than 300 people turned up to meet buyers from Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council's housing framework partner organisations.


 
It was so busy that we had to seat people in the upstairs public gallery of the council chambers, while latecomers were asked to wait in the foyer so we didn't exceed our safe capacity.
 
We apologise to people who missed out because of the overwhelming response to this Breakfast Club. Please do sign up early for our February Breakfast Club with Balfour Beatty, our March Breakfast Club with Willmott Dixon and our huge Growing Green event towards the end of March.
 
So what happened at January's Breakfast Club?
 
We'd invited all nine of the organisations involved in Sandwell's multi-million pound housing scheme to come and tell delegates what they're looking for in suppliers. The majority of them were able to be there, and they were:  
 
* Accord Housing Association with Mansell Construction
* Black Country Housing Group
* Bromford Housing Group
* Galliford Try with Waterloo Housing Association
* Housing 21 with Thomas Vale
* Kier.
 
Each of these organisations had a table-top stand at the event, staffed by their buyers, so attendees could approach them with questions. We had apologies from the remaining partners, Barratt, Compendium Group and Keepmoat.

New homes for Sandwell
 
During the main presentations we heard from Kerry Bolister, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council's new area director for homes and commununties, about the council's scheme to build almost 3000 new homes in the borough over the next 24-50 months.


 
This scheme is thanks to millions of pounds' worth of investment, boosted by the government Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
 
Not only does the housing programme mean new homes for Sandwell, but its development will generate £280m-worth of construction work. In turn, this should create jobs, training and supply chain business opportunities  - particularly in building materials and subcontracting services. And that's why we organised this Breakfast Club: to help businesses like yours to tap into the opportunities.

Showing best practice

Sandwell Council needs to demonstrate best practice to HCA, showing that we are spending its investment wisely and creating new jobs for the region. Therefore responsible KPIs (key performance indicators) have been embedded into Sandwell Council's contracts with the nine housing partners, to ensure their work reaps the maximum benefits for our local economy.
 
We need to make the work accessible to local businesses, so we have asked all nine partners to sign our Sandwell procurement pledge and support the region's supply chain. Galliford Try has led the way on this.
 
We are encouraging the partners to use finditinsandwell to advertise work packages, so the work is instantly transparent and accessible to businesses using our website.
 
We have also asked the partners to subscribe to our Skills Development Recognition training scheme, so potential suppliers need only complete one prequalification questionnaire (PQQ) to approach all nine of them for work.

A green agenda

There is a green agenda in the housing programme too. Kerry explained how Sandwell wants to lead the way in the Black Country Green Deal (the government's initiative to help implement energy efficiency measures in households and businesses), building affordable, carbon-free homes for our residents.
 
That means our housing partners are calling for green building technologies, new types of sustainable materials and environmentally friendly construction methods (such as offsite manufacturing and renewable installations).
 
Down the line, business opportunities will also be generated by Sandwell's need to convert existing housing stock (that's 30,000+ homes) into greener buildings.
 
You can find out how to boost your firm's green credentials at our Growing Green event in March.  

Work already underway
 
Sandwell's housing scheme has kicked off with the flagship Eastern Gateway project in West Bromwich, delivered by Accord Housing and its principal contractor Mansell Construction.
 
Lynne Hill and Kevin Haycock of Accord Housing showed delegates concept designs of the project and talked about timelines.


 
We also heard from Simon Liversage, project manager for Mansell Construction, whose team moved on site this week. He talked about the schedule of works, material packages and subcontract opportunities, which will include:
 
* Groundworks
* Bricklaying
* Carpentry
* Plaster, screeding and render
* Standing seam and single plywood roofing
* Steel balconies
* Plumbing and heating
* Electrical
* PV installations
* Painting and decorating
* Wall tiling
* Floor cover
* Mastic pointing
* Landscaping
* Fencing and garden sheds.
 
All opportunities will be advertised on finditinsandwell.
 
After the presentations there was plenty of time for networking over tea, coffee and breakfast rolls. Designers, buyers and project managers were on hand to take delegates' questions.
 
Thank you to everyone who took part. Because of the success - and oversubscription - of the morning's event, we promise to organise more 'meet the buyer' sessions in the future. Watch our news page and Twitter feed for updates.

[Thank you to James Hayward for taking the photographs.]