Repairs & Improvements
Private Finance Initiative
PFI 1 and PFI 2
The following information is relevant for residents of street properties living in homes in the PFI 1 and PFI 2 projects.
There are 2336 (tenanted and leasehold) homes in the PFI 1 scheme and 4095 in PFI 2.
If you are not sure if your home is part of the PFI 1 or PFI 2 schemes, you can check by clicking onto the PFI 1 index or PFI 2 index.
If you cannot find your home in these lists then your home is not in a PFI project. Some other homes are in HFI's project for street properties. Please use the link Street Property Programme to see if your home is in that project, which is not a PFI scheme.
The two PFI schemes are run by Partners for Improvement in Islington (or "Partners" for short) under two contracts with the Council. Homes for Islington's role is to monitor the contract on behalf of the Council.
Partners is a consortium made up of:
- Hyde Housing Association which provides the housing management service, including rent collection, tenancy and leasehold management and customer services
- United House are constructors who carry out the refurbishment of the properties during the first five and a half years, including installation and maintenance of heating systems in tenants’ homes.
- Rydon Property Maintenance provides the day to day repairs service.
- HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland) provides funding for the project.
The PFI 1 contract will last 30 years from May 2003. The PFI 2 contract will last 15 years and 11 months from October 2006. During the first five and a half years, the operator is expected to refurbish the properties.
PFI 1 is the first housing PFI in the country and was a part of a pathfinder project run by the government dwellings.
For contact details and staffing at the Partners Office are on the Partners page
The following are quick links to additional information on this page:
What are the aims of the PFI1 and PFI2 projects?
Further information about Partners for Improvement
in Islington
Monitoring and commissioning the PFI contracts
Contract standards, monitoring key performance indicators
(KPIs) and payment
The refurbishment programme
PFI consultation meetings
Information for Leaseholders
See also Consul Chartered Surveyor reports on PFI1 refurbishment works:
Quality
of refurbishment work January 2005 (pdf file 73 Kb)
Quality
of refurbishment work January 2005 letter of explanation of report
(word doc 28kb)
The Consul I Report revealed some shortfalls, so HFI commissioned
a follow-up report which was issued in July 2005 and showed a much
improved standard of work. The following is a link to the report.
Quality
of refurbishment work June 2005 (pdf file 62Kb)
Quality
of refurbishment work June 2006 (pdf 1.24Mb)
See also:
Reports
and satisfaction surveys (for PFI1 properties)
Reports and satisfaction surveys (for PFI2 properties)
How
to make a complaint about Partners’ services
What are the aims of the PFI projects?
To provide an affordable and effective way for the public sector to deliver investment in social housing, providing satisfactory outcomes in terms of:
- Significant and sustainable improvement in housing conditions
- High quality housing services
- Giving tenants the opportunity to participate in setting and monitoring performance targets
- Ensuring that the risks attached to investment in social housing are handled by the party best able to handle and manage them
- Encouraging innovation in investment planning, service delivery and tenant involvement
Further information about Partners for Improvement in Islington
For further details about Partners for Improvement in Islington, including contact details and how to request services click the following links:
Partners
takes you to the Partners page on this website.
See also the Partners website at www.partnersislington.net
Monitoring and commissioning the PFI contracts
The commissioning team in HFI monitors the PFI contract and the progress of works being done by Partners. This involves checking to see if are performing to the agreed standards. They will only be paid if works carried out satisfactorily.
The commissioning team consists of three contract commissioning managers, one technical contract manager and a contract administrator. You may contact them as follows:
Jane Mugridge, Contract Commissioning Manager
Jane.mugridge@homesforislington.org.uk
020 7527 4095
Eileen Abbott, Contract Commissioning Manager
Eileen.abbott@homesforislington.org.uk
020 7527 4267
Ivan Willis, Contract Commissioning Manager
ivan.willis@homesforislington.org.uk
020 7527 4197
Martin Church, Technical Contract Manager
martin.church@homesforislington.org.uk
020 7527 1824
The role of the commissioning team entails the following:
- Ensure housing management, including leasehold management, is carried out effectively by Partners in line with standards in the contract
- Ensure the contract provides value for money
- Ensure service plans are tenant focused and resident consultation takes place
- Carry out spot checks and audits
- Deal with contract problems
- Monitor tenant satisfaction and progress of the refurbishment programme
- Report on Partners’ performance
- Liaison between HFI, Islington Council and Partners
- Monitoring of key performance indicators, contract standards and payment of contract fees
Contract standards, monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) and payment
The PFI contracts contain the standards that must be met by Partners. The council has set "availability” (i.e., refurbishment) standards which all properties must reach. There are two availability standards:
- Interim – where internal works have been completed
- Full – where internal and external works have been finished
Bonuses and deductions will be made depending on how well or how poorly Partners perform in delivering services. It is in their interest to make sure they perform well at all times; otherwise this can lead to penalties. The KPIs allow us to judge their performance and to determine if they are complying with the standards set in the contracts.
A selection of indicators that are regularly monitored are:
Maintenance and Repairs
% of individual repairs completed within timescales
% of communal repairs completed within timescales
Tenant satisfaction with repairs
Voids and Lettings
Average re-let times
Rent and Arrears
% of gross annual rent roll collected
Other HM Services
Compliance with nuisance and harassment requirements
Compliance with tenancy change requirements
Compliance with tenancy audit requirements
Compliance with compensation requirements
Customer Services
Compliance with telephony requirements
Compliance with out of hours telephony requirements
Compliance with electronic access services requirements
Correspondence answered less than 10 days
Complaints answered less than 10 days
Members’ enquiries answered less than 10 days
For a detailed explanation of any of the above KPI contact the contract commissioning managers.
There is also a target set for the number of homes that must brought up to the decent homes standard. This is referred to as the “milestone”.
The annual improvement targets are drawn up and set out in Partners’ annual service plan.
Partners’ performance is monitored by the commissioning team and reported to the Performance Management Committee (PMC). The PMC decides what action, if any, to take if Partners are underperforming. The PMC meets and receives reports annually. Quarterly performance monitoring reports are sent to Islington Council. Minutes of PMC are available online.
The refurbishment programme is carried out by United House Ltd. Works to properties include:
- Installing new kitchens and bathrooms and central heating in tenants' homes in line with the requirements of the decent homes standard
- Rewiring tenants' homes
- Overhauling windows, redecorating the outside of properties
- Overhauling the roof and roof covering
- Tackling damp and structural problems where necessary
- Redecorating communal hallways
- Renewing the door entry system to shared front doors
Tenants will be contacted 4-6 months in advance of the start date of works to allow them to make choices about their kitchen and bathroom.
For the refurbishment timetable for PFI 1 and PFI 2 properties, see Partners’ website at www.partnersislington.net
Once the properties have been refurbished and improved, they will be maintained to a set standard over the life of each contract.
PFI consultation
meetings
Information about meetings of the PFI residents consultation panel
and a link to minutes of meetings can be found by clicking
PFI
consultation meetings
Leaseholders will have to contribute towards the costs of external and communal works. Leaseholders will be consulted about the proposed works and will be given estimated prices. Leaseholders will be given a number of ways to pay, including interest free payment. For further information please contact the PFI commissioning team or Partners. A Handbook for Leaseholders is also available – see Partners website at www.partnersislington.net
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