Your Estate Services are changing
We’re reviewing how we look after the communal spaces, inside and out, at our properties.
This work is known as Estate Services and covers things like grass cutting, the way we clean and care for internal shared spaces, how we look after bin stores and many other points – you can read more about this below.
As Estate Services are provided for residents and paid for via service charges it’s vital that residents share their views and help shape the service.
So we were delighted that more than 1,350 residents took the time to complete the survey - a massive thank you to each and every one of you! These responses have really helped us to shape the specification for the new contract and service providers.
We’re now moving on to the next stage in the process, which will see us advertising for companies to bid on our new estates contract. We are looking forward to seeing proposals from companies on how they can enhance the services at a price that offers you, and us, genuine value for money.
Help to spread the news
If you are a leaseholder you will receive an official consultation notice through the post.
As this initial stage is open to all contractors based in the UK please feel to share this webpage with any companies you may know who would be able to provide the services we require.
All applications received will be evaluated by our Operations team to ensure that the company meets our internal requirements and has the necessary technical abilities.
Successful applicants will then be invited to provide a price for the service and submit a response to a set of questions.
These questions will be marked and scored. We’ll combine each bidder’s question scores with their price submission to give a final score out of 100. The highest scoring company will be awarded the contract.
Estate Services explained
Town & Country Housing provides more than 10,000 homes to families in Kent and Sussex, and a further 3,000 homes in in Surrey and West Sussex through Rosebery Housing.
As your landlord it’s our responsibility to keep the land around these homes, and shared spaces within them, clean and tidy. We use specialist contractors to carry out this work for us, which you pay for as part of your service charge.
We call this work Estate Services and these are the type of things that are covered:
- Grass and hedge cutting in communal areas
- Maintaining play areas
- Cleaning of internal communal areas in blocks of flats
- Communal window cleaning
- Lighting in communal areas
- Cleaning bin stores
- Dealing with fire hazards, such as items left in communal areas.
A day in the life of an Estate Contracts Officer
The contracts we have with companies that deliver the Estate Services work are coming to an end in March 2025. Because of the size of the contracts it’s important to shop around to make sure we’re getting the best deal. We’re also using the opportunity to see if there are any extra services that could be provided.
And as we’ve said, the Estate Services are provided for residents and paid for via service charges, so it’s vital that residents can share their views and help shape the service.
So we were delighted that more than 1,350 residents took the time to complete the survey - a massive thank you to each and every one of you!
We were equally delighted that 347 respondents expressed an interest in being part of the evaluation process. Their input will be vital in helping us to select the new contractors, and we’re contacting them each directly to discuss next steps.
Still interested?
If you didn't get the chance to complete survey but would still like to be involved, please do get in touch with us via getinvolved@tch.org.uk or by calling 01892 501480.
Timeline
- Issue initial selection questionnaire to contractors – Late August 24
- Submissions evaluated – Late September 24
- Invitation to tender (Inviting companies who pass the selection stage to make a bid) – Early October 24
- Evaluation of bids – Late November 24
- Award of contract – Mid January 25
- Contract start – Early April 25
Find out more
If you’d like more information about this process, including the opportunities to help shape the new service, please email getinvolved@tch.org.uk.