The Novus Big Five, our flagship charity project, has been shortlisted in the National Building Awards, the annual celebration of the best of the construction industry. The Big Five campaign is one of four finalists in the community engagement category, with the winner due to be announced at an awards ceremony in May. For the initiative, we canvased nominations for worthy projects in five locations across the UK to each receive a £20,000 investment. The renovation projects that were chosen by our own team of judges included: Home refurbishment The conversion of a derelict two-bedroom house in Leeds into a modern property for a vulnerable person on behalf of Latch (Leeds Action to Create Homes). The charity reduces homelessness in the city by providing supported housing for those ready to make a positive change. Maternity ward refurbishment Refurbishments at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton created a new bereavement suite for parents who have sadly lost a child during birth for charities Abigail’s Footsteps and Oscar’s Wish. The work included the creation of an apartment at the hospital. Dudley Community Centre Refurbishment Refurbishment of a community centre in a primary school in Dudley, near Birmingham, resulted in the opening of a new learning hub for parents and children. The space now helps new parents and offers facilities for health checks as well as and a childcare centre during the summer holidays. Livingstone Community Centre Refurbishment Refurbishments at a community centre in Livingstone, Scotland, which provides courses and workshops for young people. The work included kitchen replacement and refurbishment and is designed to help provide young people with new skills while also acting as a distribution centre for food deliveries to people in need in the area. Rehabilitation Centre Refurbishment Refurbishments at a rehabilitation centre in Liverpool created a new office for Tom Harrison House – a charity that helps military veterans suffering from addiction. The new fully-heated garden office is used as a counselling room and will be used as part of the charity’s 12-week recovery programme. The resounding success of the project in supporting our corporate social responsibility (CSR), where our mission is to change the lives of people in communities where we work, and engaging with the community led to the shortlisting. It supports our view that our CSR initiatives are some of the best, most engaging and transformative in the sector. The National Building Awards programme aims to raise the profile of industrious, hardworking and enterprising building and construction businesses across the country. You can find out more about our CSR approach, here. To find out more about the awards, visit: https://www.nationalbuildingawards.co.uk/

We have secured three new refurbishment contracts with housing association Bromford totalling £16 million. The contracts include a £12 million programme of roofing upgrades across Bromford’s portfolio in the Midlands and South West, as the housing provider looks to provide the right home for every customer. We expect to refurbish more than 350 roofs-a-year under the five-year deal and will be completing works on a 200-home estate in Wolverhampton and supported housing schemes in Lichfield over the first twelve months. The project, which was awarded following a competitive tender process, is an extension of our six-year roofing contract with Bromford. The business has also been appointed to deliver a £2 million contract to upgrade the roofing at Bromford’s 90-home Waterloo estate in Gloucestershire, which will help the housing association to minimise future reactive maintenance costs. In a separate three-year agreement, we will be completing £2 million worth of fire-safety works in blocks of flats including sheltered accommodation. It includes fire door upgrades and projects to replace fire-stopping systems between storeys. Works are set to begin in January after Bromford finalises a comprehensive survey of fire systems across its estate. In addition to the roofing and fire safety works, we along with our supply chain are refreshing a local community centre in Gloucester as a pro-bono project. The wins build on our’ 10-year relationship with the housing association, which partnered with South West-based Merlin in July of last year before merging with Gloucestershire-based Severn Vale Housing in January. Its combined stock totals 44,000 homes and it has a planned development pipeline of £1.5bn for 14,000 new homes over the next decade. Lee Hartley, director at Novus, said: “Bromford is one of many long-standing relationships we have in the social housing sector. We provide local support through our network of offices but, as a national contractor, can provide scale to deliver projects quickly across multiple territories while ensuring the same high-quality standards. “We’re proud of our ability to retain major clients like Bromford for more than a decade. We’re quick to understand how these organisations work – their stock and what their customers expect – so that we can become an extension of their team. In addition, our commitment to volunteering and providing added value initiatives helps to transform lives beyond the improvement works to housing stock.” Russ Fowler, Bromford’s director of strategic asset management, said: “We have an excellent relationship with Novus and are pleased to be working in partnership with them as we look to make improvements to hundreds of existing homes as part of our aim to ensure that each customer can thrive by having a home that is safe, secure and warm.”

We’ve secured one of the UK’s leading certifications for public sector refurbishments as a result of our exceptional client liaison and customer relationship work. The Tpas accreditation recognises contractors who carry out planned and reactive maintenance works to local authorities and housing associations to the very highest standards. Tpas is England’s leading tenant engagement organisation, made up of local residents and landlord organisations managing a total of 2.2 million homes around the country. For more information about Tpas read here: https://www.tpas.org.uk/about-tpas The award is testament to the hard work of our staff who go above and beyond in their communities when it comes to delivering planned and reactive refurbishment projects, whether through picking up shopping for vulnerable residents or hosting skills workshops. We passed all six sections of the testing criteria. These include ensuring community engagement and customer care is strongly embedded within our team, taking an economically and socially-active approach to community investment and training our employees to be skilled and engaged when dealing with residents. The accreditation also includes driving success by listening and responding to client and resident concerns, gauging tenant satisfaction and acting upon the findings to improve our services. Tpas’ overall results concluded that we demonstrated the ability to uphold and deliver on the highest expectations for quality customer care and community engagement. Kevin Rhone, head of social value and customer service at Novus, said: “Delivering the highest standards possible in customer care is incredibly important to everyone at Novus, but we wanted something that rubberstamps our commitment. “The Tpas accreditation does that. By passing all the criteria set out by the organisation with flying colours, our staff have yet again shown they’re a cut above when it comes to engaging with our communities.”

We have been appointed to deliver refurbishment works at a five-storey student accommodation building for the University of Leeds totalling £200,000. The Henry Price building is part of the university’s main campus and comprises 40 student flats. We will replace all 10 shared kitchens at the building including a strip-out of the interior, replacement of appliances and fit-out. The University of Leeds is ranked in the top 10 universities in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2019. It is ranked third in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey. It has over 34,000 students and contributes £1.8bn annually to the UK economy. The six-week project is due to complete in September, before term begins. This is our first contract with the University of Leeds and follows its appointment to student accommodation refurbishments at Lancaster University and Teesside University. The business has secured and delivered over £10 million worth of refurbishment projects with new and existing clients in the higher education sector since the start of 2018. Nick Haigh, operations manager at Novus, said: “Offering a great student experience and high-quality accommodation is key to universities’ growth. “As is the case for many contracts in the sector, a key part of our successful bid for the University of Leeds contract was our proven experience delivering high-quality work to a tight timeframe.” Our Leeds office opened in January 2018 and its client roster in the region includes University of Leeds, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, and Sanctuary Housing.

We have been chosen to deliver a major housing project in Stoke-on-Trent in a deal worth around £14million.Our Stoke-on-Trent team will be building 85 apartments and 43 houses in partnership with Fortior Homes, the housing company owned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, on Lichfield Street, Hanley.Work on the site will begin in December with completion set for September 2020. The development will consist of a range of two and three-bedroom houses and one and two-bedroom apartments.Novus were appointed to the contract following a competitive tendering process.Dean Povey, Operations Manager at Novus, said: “As a national contractor that calls Stoke its home, we can’t wait to get started on this exciting project.“The development will provide quality homes for private rent and market sale for the city’s people a stone’s throw from Stoke-on-Trent’s shopping, nightlife and business centre.“As the first project we’ve worked on with Fortior Homes we’re looking forward to building a lasting relationship.”Councillor Randy Conteh, the city council’s cabinet member for housing, communities and safer city, said: “We are committed to providing quality housing for our residents at all stages of life – and to ensuring that different types of accommodation are available to meet everyone’s needs. By providing new-build homes in this location we will be making sure we don’t lose people to other areas who want to live in this kind of accommodation, but are struggling to find somewhere suitable.“There has been a significant amount of investment in the city centre and the infrastructure to support businesses. This is a way of continuing that support by providing the homes for those attracted to the city by the new business environment in a spot readily accessible from the centre.“It is also fantastic news that a local company, Novus, has successfully won the contract for this development. Helping local businesses to grow means more jobs and opportunities for local people. It raises people’s quality of life, and it supports our economy.”Councillor Ann James, leader of the city council and a board member of Fortior Homes, said: “The development of this site will allow us to deliver on our objective for significant investment in new housing.“We aim to provide high quality homes within Stoke-on-Trent, and the Lichfield Street site presents an exciting opportunity for the delivery of a new and aspirational private rental and market sale offer in a key location.”

A newly-refurbished community hub in Livingston has reopened following the end of a £20,000 charity competition held by contractor Novus.   Refurbishment and Redecoration Works Works at the Riverside Community Wing, which is predominantly used by the West Lothian Youth Action Project, include replacing the kitchen, refurbishing its foyer and IT suite and a complete redecoration. It will offer training workshops, summer activities and music projects in the building, as well as mentoring to vulnerable youngsters and distributing surplus food to people in the community. The project has been completed in just two weeks by Novus’ workforce in Scotland in partnership with its suppliers, which include Howdens, Travis Perkins, Dulux and West Cross Carpets.   Novus Big Five Initiative The West Lothian Youth Action Project provides support and advice to young people aged between 10 and 21. It was chosen as part of Novus’ ‘Big Five’ initiative to mark its fifth birthday, where the firm has spent £20,000 each on individual projects across the UK.   Client Feedback Barbara Boertien, Community Engagement Officer at Almond Housing Assocation, who nominated the wing for the refurbishment, said: “The Riverside Community Wing has served Livingston for 50 years but needed a repair to help it continue to benefit the community in the future. “We’re really pleased with the finished project and grateful to everyone at Novus for their hard work.”   Charlie Cooley, strategic operations manager at Novus in Scotland, said: “The West Lothian Youth Action Project is a fantastic initiative that helps young people realise their full potential. It’s been a pleasure to transform the building into a place that will be used by the community for years to come.” Novus worked alongside its suppliers McMaster’s Electrical, West Cross Carpets, GPE Environmental, Dulux, Howdens, Travis Perkins, Howard Jessop Blinds, Aramark Defence Services and Parker Signs to deliver the project.