Rural service from Ian Williams

Facilities management firm Ian Williams has secured a £2 million contract to repair and maintain hundreds of rural homes throughout the Midlands. The company beat off stiff competition from 34 rivals competing for the tender put out by Midlands Rural Housing (MRH).

The contract is set to last until 2013, with the option to extend it until 2015, and will see Ian Williams look after homes managed by Leicestershire, Peak District, and Northamptonshire rural housing associations, as well Warwickshire. The former will be serviced from the company’s Nottingham office, while the latter covered from its Birmingham base.

MRH put the contract out to tender earlier this year and received 34 expressions of interest. A competitive tender process whittled the number down and five hopefuls were interviewed.

David Krause, development & maintenance manager of MRH, said: “We were thrilled with the amount of interest the tender generated and the quality of submissions that followed. Ian Williams has an outstanding track record in the sector and a presence in the Midlands. We look forward to developing, potentially, an eight year partnership with them.”

To coincide with the appointment of Ian Williams, MRH is in the process of upgrading its diagnostic system within the customer services team to help staff when a tenant calls to report a repair. It is designed to enable the team to correctly pinpoint the problem and brief the contractor accordingly so every repair is completed correctly on the first visit.

Mike Turner, development director at Ian Williams, said: “We are delighted to have secured this contract with an organisation which is clearly striving to continually improve services to its customers. The long-term partnership approach is one we feel offers the best value for clients, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with the four rural housing associations and their respective tenants to ensure high repairs satisfaction.”