Forest of Dean housing association awards £6.4 million heating system contract

Two Rivers Housing has awarded two four-year contracts to Berkshire-based heating, service and repair company PH Jones in a deal worth £6.4 million.

The two new contracts build on a successful long-term partnership between the two organisations, which has seen PH Jones provide servicing and repairs to the housing association’s traditional fuel heating systems for the last nine years.

The Gloucestershire housing association recently secured funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to undertake a pilot to fully retrofit a small number of its homes. This will include the installation of more efficient and renewable heating systems in these properties.

The first of the new contracts will see PH Jones, which is headquartered in Windsor, take responsibility of the servicing and repair of Two Rivers Housing’s renewable systems as well as the traditional heating systems it has previously serviced.

Two Rivers Housing provides more than 4,200 affordable homes across Gloucestershire, which account for more than 90% of the organisations carbon emissions. The replacement of gas, oil and solid fuel heating systems in its older homes and the installation of this technology in its new build homes, will play a key part in reducing this and support its ambition to become a Carbon Zero organisation by 2050.

Following a tender through the CHIC Framework, a not-for-profit, member-owned tendering consortium, PH Jones was awarded a second four-year deal. This will see the firm complete heating system improvements, installations and upgrades to the housing associations homes helping the housing association to reduce its carbon footprint over the coming years.

Luke Beard, Assistant Director of Assets at Two Rivers Housing said: “Our tenants have been incredibly pleased with the service provided by PH Jones over the last nine years, and we will now be able to offer the same excellent service to all of our tenants regardless of the type of heating system they currently have.”

“Our procurement panel was particularly impressed with the PH Jones commitment to achieving Carbon Zero, which will be a key part of our improvement and development work going forward. It also felt that this partnership would support other initiatives in the pipeline that will have further benefits to our tenants.”

As part of the deal, PH jones have committed to delivering employment and skills opportunities throughout the contract, alongside a number of customer focused improvements for appointment booking and tracking.

Matt Isherwood, Head of Business Customer Delivery at PH Jones added: “We have been working with social housing clients for more than 50 years, and we are continuing to build on that as we aim to provide affordable, zero carbon solutions for our customers.

“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Two Rivers Housing. This project has the potential to reduce energy bills for residents, while improving local air quality and making a significant contribution as the UK transitions to cleaner, greener heating."