Mitie, the FTSE 250 strategic outsourcing and energy services company, has teamed with performance improvement specialists, HouseMark, to jointly launch ‘Smarter Ways of Working’, an innovative guide to delivering efficient social housing maintenance.
Smarter Ways of Working gives organisations across the social housing sector practical examples of how to improve their service to clients and residents in order to reduce costs and make a positive difference to residents’ lives.
In her foreword to the guide, Grainia Long, chief executive, Chartered Institute of Housing, explains:
“At a time when social landlords must look for efficiency savings without reducing quality, it is crucial to look around to see how others are working smarter – achieving better outcomes for less money.
“This joint HouseMark and Mitie publication contains over thirty practical examples showing how a variety of social landlords are extracting more value in repairs and maintenance without compromising quality.”
Peter Griffin, director for social housing at Mitie, said:
“At Mitie, we constantly review the way we deliver our services to our customers to ensure they are delivered in the most efficient and cost effective way, and always with the customer’s best interest at heart. We were very pleased that other organisations in the social housing industry were willing to share their best practice in this guide and we thank HouseMark for their involvement.”
The case studies are structured into three areas: People, Property and Carbon, which are the three elements of Mitie’s TotalCare approach to social housing maintenance.
People
An example at Crawley Borough Council explains how Mitie worked with the Council and supply chain partner to redesign the repairs process for its housing and ensure a streamlined service.
The streamlined repairs process means the operative will diagnose the problem on arrival, allocate a time period for the repair and order any extra materials required on a ‘Just In Time’ basis.
The materials are delivered at a time specified by the operative and any waste material is taken away from residents’ homes immediately.
Benefits for the client and residents from the new repairs process mean the number of visits to the property per job has reduced and the first time fix rate has increased to 98%.
Property
In a case study from the property section, Mitie describes how it predicts the resources required to meet clients’ needs at the start of each contract. Mitie explains how it uses the clients’ historical repairs data to create geographic information systems (GIS) mapping. This is a visual description of repair demand that enables prediction of future trends and informs decisions about resources.
GIS mapping benefits the client by enabling Mitie to ensure it has the right people delivering the right repair at the right location – from the very start of the contract.
Carbon
In one of two case studies in Camden, the Council wanted to minimise exposure to rising energy prices, help tackle fuel poverty by providing tenants with affordable energy, and meet carbon emission targets.
Mitie partnered with the Council, to provide surplus heat from the Mitie energy plant at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.
As a result, around 1,500 council home tenants will benefit from the Council’s ability to procure energy at a much cheaper rate than available commercially.
Please use the link below to view the report - http://mitiegroup.ceros.com/smarter/publication/page/1
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For further information, contact:
Mitie
Tim Hitchen, Communications Manager
D: +44 20 7022 8438
M: +44 7880177541
E: tim.hitchen@mitie.com
Notes for editors
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