Client: Notting Hill Genesis

  • Project title: Asbestos Services
  • Contract type: JCT Contract, April 2015 – On-going.
  • Contract value: £425,000 per annum
  • Geographic location: London & Home Counties

Description of works: Undertake asbestos surveys, re-inspections, and analytical works across the Council portfolio of domestic and commercial properties.

How works were planned and delivered on time

The contract is delivered by our directly employed team of Asbestos consultants and overseen by a dedicated Project Managers. Day-to-day contract management is undertaken by a lead Project Manager, supported by a dedicated asbestos administration team, Regional Director, and Technical Director.

Our Asbestos Administration Team support the management of the contract and daily activities of Consultants. Led by the Administration Manager, their duties include ensuring all completed works are compliant, preparing reports for client review. Report workloads are managed daily to ensure completion within KPI targets.

Contract Performance: Using a Red-Amber-Green (RAG) reporting system within LifeCSP, key targets are monitored and followed-up to ensure contract SLAs were met:

  • Completed reports uploaded onto Client Shine system including schematic drawings within 10 working days.
  • Void works completed and uploaded to Shine within 3 working days.
  • We achieve a 99+% state of service.

How customers were engaged and communicated with

Dedicated Appointment Resource – Maximising Access

An office-based Client/Tenant Liaison Officer within our Housing Team is dedicated to the contract and schedules all appointments directly with the tenant or site manager, employing a robust set of client-focused procedures to maximise first time access.

  • We book appointments directly with the resident or building manager based upon the agreed delivery plan.
  • Our dedicated team plan future work, liaising with the tenant and building managers. This is followed up by email confirmation and work is completed as agreed.
  • SMS messages sent as a reminder 48 hours prior to appointment time and another 24 hours before to allow postponement if the appointment is no longer available.
  • Customer-focused training: All staff had undertaken safeguarding and vulnerable persons training prior to contract start.
  • Visit debriefing: We have an early warning system if any issues of concern are identified, and this is notified immediately to the City of Westminster Council Asbestos Team.

How diverse customer needs were met

  • During mobilisation we requested customer profile information, working with the NHG Asbestos Team to design our service, prior to appointment.
  • Offered appointment times convenient to the tenant/site, e.g. avoiding times/days where residents with sensitivities were undertaking activities or going out. We avoid appointments during religious holidays/festivals. Two operatives attending where required.
  • Provided letters in braille/large print/community languages.
  • GDPR-compliant customer information was provided for Consultants via their tablet computer.

Value for Money achieved for the client

As a compliance provider delivering asbestos, water hygiene, and fire related compliancy services, we utilise multi-skilled staff across several of our contracts including Notting Hill Genesis. This minimises the number of contractors visiting tenants and commercial properties at any given time and saving local management time and delivers consistency throughout the different reports.

We have maximised our ability to undertake multiple works during a day for NHG by completing surveys and analytical works directly into our tablet computers when onsite, as such providing very competitive rates. Turnaround times have halved from 20 days down to 10 days (3 days for void properties), removing paper forms and administration time by entering information directly into LifeCSP which is then transferred into Shine.

Before we were due to start the contract, our Project Manager visited several residential home and commercial properties owned by NHG to gain an understanding of the portfolio.

All outstanding remedial actions are reported to Haig Housing Compliance Team as well as forming part of contract review meetings. Initially meetings were held weekly, however due to the success of the contract, these are now being delivered every two months and typically held face to face.

We worked with NHG on a non-compliant property project for several properties that needed management surveys having been identified following an internal audit. This covered over 800 properties to be completed within 4 months which was achieved, followed by an additional 80 properties which were completed within 1 month.

How IT was used to integrate with the client system and add value to the service.

Report and Information Provision

The client uses Shine for their in-house system. Nominated Life staff are provided with Shine training to enable them to upload reports, certificates etc directly into Shine. During contract mobilisation, we undertook several dummy data transfers to ensure the efficacy of data.

We provide direct access to ‘live’ contract information and data via the LifeCSP Client Portal, providing authorised access to asbestos related data, status/progress updates, KPI statistics, with data downloadable in .csv files for analysis.

Direct client access to ‘live’ contract data was provided via secure log-in username/password into LifeCSP. Significant added-value benefits were delivered:

  • Easy access to data: Accessible via a secure log-in. Client staff interrogated performance data without our intervention.
  • Real-time data provision: Providing ‘warts and all’ data to inform decision making.
  • Data and reports appropriate to role: Users accessed data relevant to them and their managed properties, reducing ‘information overload’. 
  • Visually compelling: Provision of key data and statistics using a ‘digital dashboard’ provided visual reporting and easy to view performance statistics.
  • Comprehensive data provision: Captured data was sent to LifeCSP and interrogated within the portal or downloaded as a .csv file.