New estate services contracts

We’re in search of new Estate Services contractors for:

  • communal cleaning
  • grounds maintenance
  • waste management
  • and Japanese Knotweed

and lots of customers have been helping us.

We’ve listened to feedback from over 1,700 completed surveys, and now we’re working with a select group of volunteers in different forums, from designing the contracts, all the way through to selecting the winner.

Full programme of involvement sessions

We’ve made over 180 changes to the service specifications as a result of working with you. Here are some of the big changes resulting from what you said. There’s also a more detailed breakdown (PDF, 84 KB) so you can see the kinds of input customers have had, and we’ve included a jargon buster, to clear up any confusion about the technical terms involved in the process.

Separating the estate services contracts

You said you would prefer for us to separate out the services under specialist contracts, rather than one supplier doing all of the jobs. With the help of our customer groups, we have achieved this. We’re also getting a specialist Japanese Knotweed contractor.

More quality assurance

With the help of our customer group we have created a new approach to how we monitor what the contractors do. We’re putting in place payment deductions if the work isn’t to the standard that’s expected. 

Their performance will also be considered when we look at any cost increases due to inflation.

Knowing when they’ve been and what they’ve done

You said the most important change for you in the new contracts is to have better visibility. You want to know when they are due, what they are expected to do, and whether they have done it.

The new contractors will have to provide this information to Hyde and all customers. They’ll have to demonstrate how they’re going to do this in order to win the contract, whether that’s an online portal, or written worksheets for non-digital customers, or both.

Everyone should know what the job is

Contractors will know exactly what needs to be done and when. We’ll also be leading on seasonal refresher training. In addition, we’ve made it clearer what standard needs to be achieved, we’ve reviewed all wording in the contracts so it’s absolutely clear. The standard of work will take priority over time spent on site.

Investigating fly-tipping

Our staff and contractors will report fly-tipping immediately and make efforts to gather evidence to find who’s responsible.

'Wilding' of areas

We know that one size doesn’t fit all. Some of you have said that you’d like to see more wildflowers and areas that can benefit the environment.

Some of you are also happy for hedges not to be cut in the summer months. We know not everyone wants this, so as part of our 'flex' approach, our new contractors will work with customers on a local level, to decide on the approach at each estate.

We’ll be making sure that everyone is happy with what’s agreed. This will happen after the procurement process, when the contract winner has been chosen.

'Flex' approach

We’re taking a 'flex' approach with these new contracts. Once the contractor has been chosen, each estate or block will have the chance to tailor the services they receive. They’ll be able to tweak parts of their service to make sure the priorities are correct, like how often the windows are cleaned, or hedges trimmed in winter.

Once the new contracts are in place, we’ll write to you to find out if there’s anything you want to change. We’ll continue to check customer feedback throughout the life of these contracts, so decisions at the beginning won’t be final. Everyone will have to agree any changes as they may affect your service charges.
  • The Service Design Group

    This group reviews the changes we’ve made in our contract specifications following your feedback. The specification is everything we expect the contractor to do if they win the contract.

    As a group, we’ll then discuss any other changes that our customers in this group feel will improve the service.

  • The Tender Creations Forum

    This forum will shape the questions that we’ll ask at the interview stage of the process to make sure we get the answers that are most important to customers.

  • Internal site visits

    Potential contractors will visit some of our sites to see examples of the estates they’ll be looking after. This helps them understand the expectations we have, and from there, they can then create their offer. Customers will join us during these visits.

  • External site visits

    This is where customers will join us to visit non-Hyde sites that the bidding contractors already look after, so we can see how they work.

    This will also involve a pre-meeting to discuss what we’re looking for and go through the aspects that are most important to our customers.

  • Scoring the tenders

    We’ll run a session with customers and Hyde colleagues to talk about how we’ll be scoring the bidders, and what we should consider to be most important.

    After that, customers will be asked to help us score the bids we receive.

  • Contractor interviews

    Customers will have helped us shape the questions for the interviews. This is where we’ll actually be asking those questions and conducting interviews with the shortlisted organisations who want to carry out our Estate Services.

    Customers will be briefed, and we will discuss their top priorities with them.