JV North has joined forces with contractors and consultants to shape its new development framework model.
With its current £180m framework due to end in 2021, JV North is working with contractors, architects, employers agents, land agents, and housebuilders, who are all attending workshop sessions to shape how the new model will work.
The group is discussing the relevance of the traditional framework method of having separate lists for contractors and consultants who are asked to tender.
The collaboration is also exploring the need for more flexibility by looking at such things as mini-tenders and the ability to call-off, an option to add others to the lists, and a broader scope of professional services.
The working group will also consider the lots to be offered.
JV North is a consortium of housing associations from across the north of England.
The consortium counts Bury Council, Community Gateway, Jigsaw, One Manchester, Sovini, Torus, Trafford Housing Trust, Weaver Vale Housing Trust, and Wythenshawe Community Housing Group as full members.
It also has seven associate members and three procurement members, including Manchester City Council.
JV North chair Wayne Gales, also chief executive of Weaver Vale Housing Trust, said: “As a consortium we will be making an ambitious bid to Homes England for grant funding in the £12bn five-year affordable homes programme starting next year.
“There is huge demand for high-quality affordable housing across our communities and JV North members are determined to play a leading role addressing this national crisis.
“How our framework is structured will be crucial in helping us build more homes faster, more efficiently and greener than ever before.
“By collaborating in the planning stage we can create a procurement route that benefits housing associations, local authorities, developers, contractors, and consultants.
“The framework will be more efficient and allow everyone to share value and ultimately increase the supply of new homes.”
COVID-19 considerations
JV North is also asking contractors and consultants what it can offer and do differently in the new framework to create stronger working partnerships especially in light of COVID-19.
“The pandemic has changed the housebuilding landscape,” said Gales.
“Housing associations need to share contractors’ and consultants’ risks because they are key pieces of the homebuilding jigsaw.
“By supporting the financial sustainability of our partners we are backing recently announced government interventions in terms of employment generation, preventing redundancies and creating opportunities for the skilled workforce needed across all supply chain and client teams in the future.
“We also want to take a new and more sustainable approach to social value, working side-by-side with all our stakeholders.”
JV North has committed to building over 4,550 homes in the current 2016/21 Shared Ownership Affordable Homes Programme, with members investing nearly half a billion pounds, having secured £150m of Homes England grant funding.
By the end of the current Shared Ownership Affordable Homes Programme, JV North says its members will have built 8,500 homes and invested close to £1bn since forming a decade ago.
Main image: JV North Chairman Wayne Gales & Saffer Cooper Consultancy’s Sean Stafford
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