Focus Consultants working with asra Housing

Focus Consultants has won a number of contracts to administer almost £5 million worth of planned improvements to homes run by asra Housing. 

It is the second year that the firm has been appointed to run the housing group’s kitchen, bathroom, window and roof replacement scheme. 

At the same time, Focus has also been appointed to a four-year consultants’ framework by asra Housing for contract administrator and stock condition surveyor roles for planned works for properties in the London area and the Midlands.

Partner at Focus Consultants, Keith Butler, said: “Focus Consultants has worked with the asra Housing Group for several years and we are very pleased to be extending our existing close relationship with the group through these contracts and through being appointed to the consultants’ framework. 

“Asra is one of the UK’s leading housing and regeneration providers, with a property portfolio of more than 14,000 homes in the Midlands and London, and this work represents a major investment in the group’s housing stock.” 

The contracts are being administered by the Leicester office of Focus, which has its headquarters in Nottingham and branches in Holborn in London and at Boston and Aubourn near Lincoln. 

Work has now got underway on two contracts, which in total represent almost £2 million worth of new kitchens and bathrooms to around 300 properties in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. The projects are due to be completed by autumn. 

In addition, the Focus team is also administering a scheme to install almost £3 million worth of new windows, doors and roofs on around 500 properties over the same three counties which starts in the summer and will run until spring 2016. 

For more details visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Project of the Decade award for scheme that Focus Consultants had a role in

Focus Consultants is celebrating the news that a project the company was involved in has been named Project of the Decade at the ProCon Awards in Leicestershire.

Focus was project manager and contract administrator for the Leicester city centre theatre Curve which picked up the People’s Choice Award.

Designed by award-winning architect Rafael Vinoly, Curve was completed in 2008.

“It is great news to hear that Curve has been voted Project of the Decade, and everyone at Focus is pleased for the whole team involved in the scheme,” said partner at Focus Keith Butler.

The ProCon Awards were attended by around 600 guests from the property, construction and other business sectors. The People’s Choice Award was sponsored by local newspaper The Leicester Mercury and voted for by readers.

Focus Consultants, based at Phoenix Business Park, Nottingham, with offices in Leicester, London, Boston and Aubourn near Lincoln, specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK.

Since its creation in 1994, Focus has secured over £800 million of grant assistance, and delivered more than £1 billion of projects and programmes.

It works across a range of sectors including heritage, arts and culture, education and tourism.

Leicester City Council was the client for the Curve project, with Leicester Theatre Trust the end user. Other members of the team were building services engineer Arup, structural engineer AKT and quantity surveyors Turner and Townsend.

For more information about Focus Consultants visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Extensive fire risk assessment contract for Focus Consultants

Focus Consultants has been awarded a five-year contract to carry out fire risk assessments on 1,000 homes in the asra Housing Group.

 The company specialises in providing bulk surveys across multiple locations and works with private sector landlords, registered social landlords, schools, colleges, universities and other organisations to ensure that fire risks in their premises are minimised.

The contract, which started in October 2012, will involve the inspection of all common parts of the asra Housing Group’s buildings and a number of sample homes, ranging from high-rise apartment blocks to two-storey house conversions.

It will also involve fire risk assessments of the asra Housing Group’s offices and other relevant buildings.

 “Focus Consultants has worked with the asra Housing Group for several years and we are very pleased to be extending our existing close relationship with the group through this contract,” said Keith Butler, a partner at Focus Consultants who is leading the project.

The work is a statutory requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Housing Act 2004, and is one of six long-term asset management contracts worth more than £55million that have recently been announced by the asra Housing Group.

The inspections will be carried out by the team at Focus Consultants on properties in the East Midlands, West Midlands and London.

They will include initial risk assessments, followed by periodic reviews at regular intervals. Focus, which has its head office at Phoenix Business Park, Nottingham, and offices in Leicester, London, Lincoln and Boston, specialises in carrying out large-scale fire risk assessments and developing, implementing and managing improvement programmes to bring risk levels down and keep them that way.

 The company provides a range of construction and property services, including building surveying, professional services such as party wall surveying and expert witnesses, energy carbon sustainability advice, project management, and economic development and funding support.

 asra is one of the UK's leading housing and regeneration providers. The group's property portfolio contains more than 13,000 homes in the Midlands and London.

For more information visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

 Issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk