Derby Regeneration

Derby City Council sought to reduce the number of empty properties within the boundaries of the City that were privately owned but were unoccupied and unfit for habitation. The Council chose to initiate a PFI scheme, which received central Government backing. The project required a chosen Registered Social Landlord to acquire 150 properties on the open market, refurbish them to decent homes standard and then let the properties back to Derby City Council on a 30-year term; the period for delivering the 150 properties was determined as a 3-year rolling programme.

A major challenge to the budgeting was the inability to define a works cost at Day 1 – the properties had to be acquired before any refurbishment costs could be calculated and therefore ongoing control of budget was paramount throughout the project.

150 distinct contracts had to be incorporated and encompassed by a workable and economic rolling programme and partnering contract. The whole team was involved, prior to any purchase, by undertaking house surveys to determine the extent of work, and by consequential costing to verify the feasibility of each and every property.