News

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.

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.

The benefits of offsite MMC delivery are well known and documented but utilising these methods doesn’t seem to be happening at pace.  Why this is the case is the subject of considerable scrutiny - within the report ‘Build Homes, Build Jobs, Build Innovation’, published in September 2020 by Mike DeAth and Mark Farmer; Cast Consultancy sets out 10 key areas of critical market failure ranging from one of unclear language and terminology to delivery and procurement models failing to promote process integration.

In October 2020, LHC issued an advice note regarding the use of the new UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) mark which replaced the European CE mark.  We advised that due to the period of co-existence of the two marks in the UK until 1 January 2022, LHC would accept certification using both CE and UKCA marking regimes between 1st January 2021 and 31st December 2021.

15 offsite manufacturers have won places in the South West on a new £330 million framework for the public sector.

The Modular Buildings (MB2) framework from LHC, the contracting authority for SWPA allows local authorities, social landlords and other public bodies to source preapproved specialist suppliers who can design, supply, and install permanent, temporary, and refurbished modular buildings.