Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader) considered the report, which sought agreement to a maximum price for a project to deliver council housing retrofits, detailed in the exempt report.

The Cabinet Member noted that the project was partially funded by the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 2.2 and would support the first retrofit project, which the Council has commenced since approving the Housing Energy Action Plan (HEAP) agreed by cabinet in January 2023.

It was further noted that the contract will be spent delivering a maximum of 289 retrofits to Council owned street properties. If the recommendations were approved, a procurement exercise would be carried out by Haringey Council’s Strategic Procurement team on the London Construction Programme (LCP) Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for a Retrofit Installer (as referred to under PAS2035:2023 & PAS2030:2023) / Contractor.

The project would actively commit to one of the main objectives of the Council Delivery Plan: to reduce carbon emissions from the Council is housing stock and meet Haringey Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) targets.

In response to questions from the Cabinet Member, the following information was provided:

-       This was a two-year contract with a potential third year extension.

-       Housing in Coldfall and White Hart Lane ward would be the recipients of the initial retrofit works. 

-       Assurance was provided that this contract award was within the budget envelope assigned to carbon reduction in the MTFS. In relation to adhering to the budget envelope, assurance was given that the team had already completed an expression of interest exercise and pre – tender formalities, which had informed the decision and contract cost. Therefore, tenders would be sought according to the pre -contract rate. Contractors would be aware that the Council had set allocated funds to spend on retrofit, allowing the Council to set the price and draw down on these funds.

-       Any unexpected significant variation in the contract price and provision, which was over £500k, would require a further key decision.

Further to considering the exempt information and exempt recommendations, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader),

RESOLVED

1.    To approve an agreed maximum sum for appointment of a contractor following a procurement process as detailed in this report and the exempt report containing exempt recommendations.

2.    To Approve a delegation to the Director of Placemaking & Housing, after consultation with the Director of Finance, to award a contract to the highest scoring bidder in accordance with the evaluation criteria up to a maximum value identified in the exempt report, following a compliant procurement process. The contract will have a maximum term of three years.

Reasons for decision

 A Retrofit Installer is required to deliver the project, as well as ensuring that grant funding deadlines can be met by carrying out the appropriate amount of works and claiming for the funding before the deadline. Further details on the grant funding are detailed in the body of this report.

Approval pre-procurement will ensure that the tendering suppliers are aware that the necessary governance process and agreed maximum price is approved, allowing for a quick mobilisation to deliver the works and meet the deadlines set by the grant funding body.

The budget for this project fits within the envelope of the carbon reduction budget over three financial years as shown in the exempt information report.

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) has been awarded to the Council for this project, with a deadline to spend the monies prior to March 2025. Delaying this procurement will prevent our ability to meet this deadline.

Alternative options considered

 Do nothing – The council has made a commitment to become a net zero carbon borough by 2041, this commitment includes provision to retrofit all its social housing stock (circa 15,000 properties) as part of the Council Housing Energy Action Plan (HEAP) 2023-2028, and therefore doing nothing does not work towards this commitment.

Delivering the project in house – The council reviewed whether it had the capacity and capabilities to deliver these works in house, and due to the specialist nature of these works, it was deemed not possible.

Use of existing contracts - Existing construction contracts used by this service area were reviewed on their suitability for this project and none were deemed appropriate, therefore a fresh procurement is required.