Updated 24.07.13
Durham Council Selects Partners to Modernise Housing Stock
Durham Council has selected three contractors to modernise its housing stock, which will involve more than £75 million being invested over the next four years.
Following consultation with tenants and leaseholders, the Council have chosen Keepmoat, Wates Living Space and Esh Group to carry out the work.
The homes are managed by the Council's in-house social housing provider, Durham City Homes, and by two arm's-length management organisations - East Durham Homes and Dale and Valley Homes.
The initial focus will be on properties managed by East Durham Homes, so as to bring remaining houses in the area into line with the Government's decent homes guidelines.
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Sedgemoor Council to Retain ALMO
A board, mainly comprised of tenants, has voted unanimously for the arm's-length management organisation (ALMO) Homes in Sedgemoor to continue to manage Sedgemoor Council's 4,200 properties.
The Council's executive has confirmed that the ALMO will remain as managing agent for the homes in Somerset after a review was initiated in late 2012.
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Southwark Council Plans 10,000-home Building Drive Southwark Council is planning to increase its housing stock by 10,000 new social homes over the next thirty years. This would be one of the biggest programmes of its kind - certainly in central London.
The decision to increase its stock is in response to an independent report commissioned by the Council last year, to examine future options for its housing.
Following consultation with residents and an examination of its financial position, the Council has decided to increase stock, rather than going with an alternative recommendation of selling off homes.
Southwark is already the largest social landlord in London and the third largest in the country.
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Leeds Agrees Housing PFI Deal
Leeds Council has sealed a deal to deliver a huge regeneration programme for its inner city, which will refurbish more than 1,200 properties and build almost 400 new homes.
The Council confirmed that it has signed a contract with the Sustainable Communities for Leeds consortium for a 20-year partnership, which will help rejuvenate local communities across the Little London, Beeston Hill and Holbeck areas of the City.
The private finance initiative means 1,245 council homes will be refurbished and 388 new homes built, with capital investment of more than £120 million over the next three and a half years.
The project is being funded by the Communities and Local Government department with a Council contribution, and is the first scheme of its kind where the private finance element is secured through the capital funding markets via a bond issue.
Under PFI, capital projects are built and managed by a consortium over a long period, with Cyril Sweet, Keepmoat and Lloyds Bank joining forces in this instance.
