Catalyst Housing is the first registered housing provider to benefit from an innovative approach to procurement introduced by the Hyde Group (Hyde), which is giving other organisations access to its supplier frameworks, in an effort to help solve the housing crisis.
The initiative has already helped ten providers, including Catalyst Housing and Southwark Council, build 600 new homes.
“The housing sector spends tens of billions of pounds each year with external suppliers. However, many housing providers do not have dedicated in-house procurement expertise, or the ability to manage public procurement tenders, while others may need to find a pre-approved contractor quickly” explained Hyde’s Head of Procurement Simon Davies.
“Giving other organisations access to our frameworks means they will save time, money and resources. We also believe this is another great way for Hyde to play its part to help meet the Government’s target to build more high quality, and affordable, new homes.”
Registered providers, local authorities and ALMOs pay Hyde a fee to access the frameworks and can then select suppliers already assessed for their operational and technical conformance and capabilities.
Catalyst Housing chose Stack London from Hyde’s construction management framework to work on Trinity Square 2, their 60 home scheme - with 19 affordable and 41 shared ownership flats – in north London. Stack London came on board when the original contractor was not able to complete the project.
Maryse Shields, Catalyst Head of Commercial, said: “We needed to find a replacement quickly. Stack London had already been assessed by Hyde, giving us the assurance we were going to be working with a company qualified and able to deliver the services we needed. This was certainly a lower-risk, better value and faster option than going out to tender again and meant delays were minimised.”
Hyde’s OJEU-compliant frameworks are valid for four years and cover: employer’s agent and associated services; architecture; construction management; main contracting; modern methods of construction; IT (access to this framework is open to all public sector organisations); and grounds maintenance and cleaning.
