News

Housing construction, particularly within the public sector, is facing more challenges and pressures than ever before. We are all well versed in materials shortages, the skills gap, achieving net zero goals, and the need for more diverse housing solutions to meet the current demand. Finding solutions that combat more than one of these problems is becoming more important than ever before.

Despite now being well into my career, I still feel that Construction gets overlooked as an industry for the immense value it brings into all our lives. Indeed, without the built environment, what would we have?

Team SWPA are here to help everyone, with our frameworks and DPS’, to simplify procurement and achieve value for money for projects of all complexities and sizes. Our knowledge sharing events are another way we work to promote best practise in all areas. It has been a busy start to the financial year, find out more about our work below.

Windows and doors contractors seeking new opportunities can now register their interest and get involved with early market consultation for a new framework that will be issued later this year.

Housing providers in the South West are working with SWPA, as long-standing provider of procurement and delivery solutions for offsite, to combine their programmes to deliver a substantial number of beautiful, customisable, zero carbon homes.

Last Monday on the 21^st of June was the publication of the contract notice for the Low Carbon MMC Offsite Housing Construction DPS and on Thursday the 24^th of June it was the soft launch of the Constructing Modern Methods (CMM) toolkit.

Specialist roofing contractors have won places on a new £180 million framework for the public sector. The design, supply, and installation of roofing and associated works (RS4) framework from LHC (the contracting authority for SWPA) allows local authorities, social landlords and other public bodies to source pre-approved local suppliers that provide roofing systems for new builds or refurbishment projects.

The Communal Doors, Entrance Doors and Associated Products (C8) framework from LHC, the contracting authority for SWPA - allows local authorities, social landlords and other public bodies to source preapproved specialist suppliers who can supply and fit doorsets and associated door hardware and access control systems such as vandal-resistant duplex voice door intercoms.

All workplaces can benefit from the positive effects of a culture of diversity and inclusion, they are well documented with increases in productivity, creativity, and profits – the key message that many of these metrics miss is that at the heart of these numbers people exist. At the core of it, when your employees feel happy, comfortable, and safe to be themselves they perform better.

Being able to create net zero homes at scale is high on the agenda in the South West - to help meet net zero targets and to fulfil the need for housing. To meet the national emissions target deadline of 2050, all existing home and homes currently being built to a less than net zero standard will have to be retrofitted. To avoid this additional cost, we need to begin building towards this standard now.