A housing association in Northern Ireland has revealed plans to set up a new limited firm which will manage maintenance and repairs across more than 4000 homes in its stock.

The move will see building, plumbing, electrical and other maintenance services delivered under the Choice brand, and will add more than 30 people to association's 350-strong staffing complement and generate savings of over £100,000 per year in repairs costs.

The new Direct Services Organisation, Choice Services Limited will be led by a Managing Director, Wilton Farrelly, who holds more than 25 years in the facilities management industry in the private and public sectors.

Michael McDonnell, Group Chief Executive of Choice said: "The conditions to create an internal service provider are right and our decision has been driven by a number of factors that came together at the same time. With our scale and the maturing of existing contracts, we have an opportunity to change the way we work and the value that we generate for our customers. Ultimately, this is about providing better services in areas that they care about. Maintenance and repairs are highlighted regularly as a main area of importance.

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"By bringing some of our services in-house and under a central brand, we can provide a more responsive and consistent customer experience that reflects Choice’s specific values. Our contract providers do an excellent job for us, but in this new venture we have the advantage of reducing costs and simplifying the way customer issues are reported and resolved. This is good news for Choice tenants and, if our performance expectations are met, we hope to expand operations to more homes in the years ahead."

Hazel Bell, Chair of Choice said: "This is an ambitious step forward for us and there is much to gain from having our own dedicated maintenance and repairs unit. Strong partnership working has been a core strength of Choice and we value the professional services our contractors provide. We will always continue to use some external contractors as part of a mixed economy approach.

"Choice is a different type of association and it is right that we should explore innovative options that can improve excellence and efficiency across our operations. Setting up internal service provider is not a small undertaking, but we have the resources and systems in place to make it a success and deliver a seamless transition to our customers in May."

(CD/MH)