Battle for jobs on new £1.9bn HCA framework

Housebuilders are set to battle it out with contractors for a place on a renewed £1.9bn housing framework run by the Homes and Communities Agency.

The HCA is planning to re-tender its Delivery Partner Panel (DPP) framework, through which 23,000 homes have been procured in the last two years, in early March.
The framework, which is split into three geographical regions, contains an even mixture of housebuilders and contractors. However, Building understands that housebuilders have been lobbying the HCA to try to ensure that major housebuilders get a larger slice of the pie.

It is understood that a final decision on the nature of the framework is yet to be taken. An industry source said: “The HCA is getting a lot of lobbying from the majors who didn’t really take the panel seriously last time round. They want to cut others out.”

The current DPP, which went live in January 2010, includes contractors such as Skanska, Laing O’Rourke, Lend Lease and Carillion alongside housebuilders such as Barratt and Taylor Wimpey. However, key players, such as Berkeley Group, Bovis Homes and Redrow missed out.

The tender, which is yet to be approved by HCA directors, will be split into at least five regions this time round, rather than the North, South and Midland regions from the original panel. This will include a dedicated panel for the London market, which will be procured jointly by the HCA and the Greater London Authority.

A spokesman for the HCA declined to put a value on the DPP, but said that 23,000 homes had been procured by the HCA and at least 50 local authorities have used the framework. At an average construction cost of £81k per home, estimated by EC Harris, that values the existing DPP at £1.86bn.

Peter Quinn, business development director at Lovell Partnerships, which is on two of the current geographical panels, said: “The DPP is a worthwhile initiative that can speed up procurement in the public sector. It is important that it is wide enough in any new format to allow both construction and housebuilding, so that the public sector can make full use of the scope that different companies can offer.”