The vacant property management company VPS reports a number of housing contracts wins across the UK in the first half of 2014.
Those new contracts include support for housing providers in Cheshire, Northamptonshire, London, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, South Wales and Northern Ireland, working with such bodies such as First Ark Group, Kier, Keepmoat, Nottingham City Homes, The Breyer Group, and the Golden Gates Housing Trust.
Last month, the LHC National Framework Arrangement issued their Vacant Property Protection guides (for Scotland, England and Wales, and Ireland), having reappointed VPS to the sixth edition of arrangement for the next three years. LHC offers a series of pre-tendered framework agreements for councils, housing associations and other public sector bodies to help save bodies from re-inventing a costly and time consuming procurement process every time they seek to purchase specialist vacant housing services.
Anthony Owen, Managing Director of VPS, has himself worked with over 250 housing providers in the UK in the last two decades. He says: “We prepared the ground last year for expanding our leadership role as vacant property specialists by opening up a record number of additional service centres across the UK and Northern Ireland. We have our largest-ever team dedicated to securing and preparing empty homes for re-letting so that we can deliver on our commitment to provide the best national reach, local service vacant housing provision in the country.
“As well as our ‘clear and clean’ operations, which can include specialist deep cleans, needle sweeps and the safe removal of hazardous and combustible materials, we also provide excellent security and monitoring solutions for both vacant properties and construction sites – one of these contracts included 400 SmartAlarm systems alone. We specialise in taking care of empty properties, looking after these assets and ultimately helping ensure they are re-let as soon as possible.”
Last year, VPS adds, it helped to secure, clean, clear, maintain and prepare almost 20,000 homes in the public and social housing sectors.
About the firm
At any one time, Hertfordshire-based VPS says, it’s securing more than 50,000 properties and employing over 1600 staff in locations across the UK and mainland Europe. They specialise in securing, maintaining and managing vacant property across customer and industry sectors. Core building services cover the vacant, unoccupied and void property lifecycle from an initial risk assessment, to security, including guarding, monitoring, clearing, cleaning, maintenance and preparation. These services protect properties against unauthorised access and a variety of hazards such as arson, theft, squatting and unauthorised occupation. Visit – www.vpspecialists.co.uk.
