LAMBETH COUNCIL

THE BRIEF

To help Lambeth Council design and procure a set of decade long contracts for key services that affect the daily lives of thousands of residents across the borough.

Key services JHG helped to improve:

  • Repairs

  • Major works

  • Cleaning and concierge services on estate and street properties.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES?

UNDERSTANDING THE BOROUGH’S TENANTS AND LEASEHOLDERS NEEDS:

The borough didn’t just want business as usual: they wanted the new contracts to deliver fundamental improvements to these vital services. So, the process involved putting residents at the heart of designing these new contracts, through a series of consultation and engagement sessions.

TIME PRESSURES:

Existing, older contracts were coming to an end. Lambeth Council needed the work wrapped up over a 12 month period.

£500 million +

contract values

200

strong workforce within the housing department

33,000

properties with 26,000 council tenants and 6,000 leaseholders

OUR METHODS AND OUTCOMES

PUTTING RESIDENTS AT THE HEART OF SOLUTIONS

A high level of resident engagement was essential to this project, we employed these methods to achieve this:

    • The group was intentionally formed to represent all parts of the borough

    • The group advised on the delivery of the new contracts. They provided insight on XYZ which helped shape XYZ

    • Talk about why resident engagement helped

    • Focus groups were made up of ….— more info here

    • The focus groups stress tested different ideas and options. Which ideas/ options were tested and what were the outcomes/ importance and how did this shape the project?

    • Conducting interviews more broadly with residents provided us with insightful ideas on how the services should function

    • These interviews were helpful in XYZ / we noticed residents prioritised … / residents criticised XYZ about current services so we channeled more resources into improving this aspect?

STRATEGIC WORKING
ACROSS THE COUNCIL

In parallel with the resident involvement, we adopted a strategic approach across the council that built a collaborative team, with participants from both Just Housing Group and the Council. This included:

    • A deep dive assessment of statistical data and performance KPIs with the relevant Council teams to establish what worked and what did not.

    • details on statistical findings??

    • Our approach was to learn about how the existing services worked from the people who delivered them on the ground – and what they felt needed to change.

    • some example feedback details?

    • Working closely with elected councillors to establish their corporate and strategic objectives – and how they saw this being applied to the new contracts.

    • more detail?

    • Our working groups covered the different relevant parts of the local authority

    • We included not just housing staff, but the legal, procurement, finance and political administration departments.

    • Stress testing new proposals as they emerged with key teams, stakeholders and politicians to ensure the final product met the needs of the borough.

LEADERSHIP

The scale of this project, involving hundreds of staff members and tens of thousands of residents, required strong leadership skills. At JHG we kept a firm grip on the different streams, whilst ensuring we kept to budget and time constraints. Managing the political dimensions of the project, such as providing councilors with constant feedback about the progress of the work, was a challenge of the project which we successfully managed by:

    • Clear project management with regular briefings for staff and project management, including databases and structures to record key decisions, actions and project plans.

    • these regular briefings helped us to XYZ

    • Regular feedback sessions were arranged with councilors on all aspects of the work.

    • what was the result of the feedback sessions?

    • Building ownership in the staff team was a priority: discussion was vital to every part of this process.

    • some more detail?

PROJECT SUCCESS

  • Project delivered on time, making savings of XX

  • Launch of a new inhouse minor repairs team aimed at communal and estate works. 

  • Contract values in excess of £500 million.

  • Succesfully collaborating with Lambeth Council which has more than 33,000 properties, with 26,000 council tenants and 6,000 leaseholders.

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