Smooth, Robust and Effective Mobilisation of Accommodation Provider Contract

Tailored building compliance…

JCW work in a wide variety of industries, each of them comes with their own challenges and nuances. By providing tailored building compliance and maintenance solutions JCW have the experience and flexibility to ensure that our customers’ requirements are met, no matter which industry they are in.

Working with Providers of Supported Living and Residential Accommodation for Mental Health Support

We understand that organisations offering supported living and residential accommodation that provide mental health support may have varied property portfolios. Some sites can be owned, leased or managed on behalf of another organisation, such as a Housing Association. Regardless of who owns the building, the statutory compliance requirements are the same. However, there can be a difference in the way the property is used. Residential accommodation will often have 24-hour in-house support while supported living will allow more independence for residents to come and go as they like and to have more control over their own living space.

Accommodation Providers

Some accommodation providers expand over time, acquiring additional properties, each may have their own routines and set of service providers. Their methods of reporting may differ and the overall cost of keeping a building compliant can vary – massively.

The person or people who are responsible for the maintenance of properties run by accommodation providers have quite a task organising service visits, following up on the paperwork and reporting to property owners and shareholders on the compliance of the sites. Often those managing individual properties are faced with multiple priorities and the wellbeing of their residents will be paramount and so sticking with existing practices may seem easier. However, having a more formulated, organised approach to building compliance can bring numerous benefits. These can include transparency when compliance service visits are due across the portfolio, ease of acquiring required certificates and reporting dashboards. All of this will save time, effort and money, as well as ensure a portfolio that is safe for its residents, visitors and staff, as well as being statutory compliant.

Importance of Being Compliant

Being compliant is paramount but there are many other benefits to ensuring your care homes are effectively maintained such as:

• The prevention of building decay and degradation

• Maintenance of structural stability and safety

• Prevention of unnecessary damage caused by weather or general wear and tear

• Optimisation of the performance of systems, such as heating and lighting

• Helping to maintain the value of the buildings themselves

Poor standards of facilities maintenance can lead to the depreciation of property values and could compromise safety standards, which in turn increases the risk of accidents and could lead to prosecution, if legal requirements are not met. A well-maintained portfolio will ensure compliance standards are met and provide a building that is safe, comfortable and that will help promote the accommodation provider’s brand.

Changing Service Providers

If you are looking to change service providers, this can be a daunting prospect. Not only will you need to manage the process of moving contractors but also managing staff who may have relationships with their existing contractors can be difficult to navigate around. Having a robust mobilisation plan that takes into account all the added stresses when changing providers is paramount to its success.

No one really likes change; however the benefits can be numerous, don’t lose sight of these in the process!

Mobilisation Experience

We understand how important the mobilisation process is to our new customers. We appreciate that each care home within a group may have their own processes and staff dynamics. Our effectiveness in being able to mobilise a new accommodation provider contract is highlighted in a recent customer win with a national mental health charity – Together for Mental Wellbeing.

About Together for Mental Wellbeing

Together for Mental Wellbeing was formed in 1879 to support people with mental health issues to lead fulfilling lives, within their communities. They provide services  that include one-to-one support in the community, supported housing and 24-hour accommodation services, advocacy and supporting people in criminal justice settings who’ve experienced mental distress.

Like many accommodation providers, the facilities team had a huge task, balancing the need for maintenance and building improvements with the wellbeing of residents and staff, while ensuring their real estate remained compliant. Many of their properties were working independently with local service providers. Uniformed processes and the collating of data was becoming increasingly more difficult, so they turned to an outside consulting firm – Auditel, to help them procure more efficiently and organise processes optimally.

A Tender Process

This resulted in an initial tender process for gas services, which soon led to a wider Statutory Compliance tender.

We spoke to Angus Mayhew who heads up the Property Department for Together who said:

“We knew that we needed to re-organise the way we conducted our maintenance throughout our portfolio. Once we had gone to tender, JCW responded positively and were extremely helpful with regard to how we could revamp our processes to the best effect.

We needed more control, better reporting, diarised service visits and a fresh pair of eyes. JCW brought all of that and more. They have been able to provide a full building compliance package as well as supporting handyman services, all under one roof. Not only can they provide all the maintenance services, they have also been able to achieve cost savings by amalgamating visits. They have a far better understanding of our systems throughout our portfolio and can provide detailed reporting on all sites, so we can now look more strategically with regard to future maintenance and system replacement.

We knew the mobilisation process would be complex, however, we can already see the benefit of JCW standardising services. They have worked closely with us during this process, having a company that can come in and, in effect, take over the maintenance scheduling and organisation has been critical.

JCW have exceeded our expectations and we look forward to building our working relationship to ensure we continue to provide compliant accommodation that is comfortable and appropriate for the mental health support we offer our residents now and in the future.”

The Services We Provide Together

Although Together were looking to tender just their gas maintenance requirements initially, as part of a wider tender process we are able to provide the following planned and reactive maintenance services:

• HVAC Maintenance

• Gas Maintenance

• Mechanical Maintenance

• Electrical Testing

• Life Safety System Testing and Monitoring

• Other Statutory Compliance

• Handyman

We understand how important it is to ensure accommodation services that provide mental health support are fully functional at all times. As part of the contract, we provide Together a 24/7 emergency response service to ensure that unexpected problems are dealt with swiftly.

Conclusion

Effective mobilisation of a new contract is key to the future success of our relationship with our customer and their staff. Open communication and honesty are at the heart of our relationship with Together and we will continue to work with their best interests in our minds at all times.

Our Business Development Director added:

“Working with Together on the accommodation services maintenance programme has been interesting, enjoyable and challenging. There are many elements involved in the contract and ensuring that not only our own staff provide the high level of service expected but also supporting Together and their staff in this process has been rewarding.

Like every new contract, communication is key and it was refreshing to work with an organisation that embraced the need for change and adoption of best practice methods. I am proud to have been an integral part of this process and look forward to building on this new relationship to support continuous improvement in their maintenance practices in the future.”

For more information regarding the services we can provide to the accommodation provider industry, get in touch with us.

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