It’s not all about awards… but they help.

2020 will be always known as the year of the pandemic, and no doubt we will not wholly ever return to pre-pandemic ways, for us at Procure Plus we met the challenge head on and in a tough year even managed to secure some awards working on some great initiatives.

Whilst we don’t do it for the awards, recognition for thinking ‘outside the box’ and pushing the boundaries are always greatly received.

We’re always happy to help and offer advice even if you don’t currently work with us, it’s always nice to meet new people.

Here are just some of the award winning initiatives we’ve been working on in 2020.

Northwards – Resident employment and training award

Northwards Housing has recently won the Resident employment and training award (under 15,000 homes) at Inside Housing’s UK Housing Awards 2020.

Northwards Housing operates across some of the most challenging areas of Manchester, in their award submission they cited the creation of The Cube, a construction training academy, as a key contributor to the ongoing success they’re seeing in helping to support those furthest from employment into opportunities within Manchester’s booming construction industry.

PP created The Cube as a dedicated training academy when we were first awarded £1.76m the Construction Skills fund to support the construction industry.

The Cube has been in operation now since 2018 and has been instrumental in training candidates to be work ready for entry level roles in the construction industry, from there they can continue to upskill as their career path develops.

HPCY award

Together Housing’s Shared Loop Ground Source Heat Pump Project fought off stiff competition from 110 cities across 27 countries around the world to be crowned Heat Pump City of the Year.

Working in partnership with Together Housing we recognised early on the important role that GSHP (Ground Source Heat Pumps) and, specifically, shared loop installs would play in helping landlords address fuel poverty and climate change across their stock.

That’s why we were the first framework service provider to procure a social housing focused suite of GSHP frameworks. After supporting Together Housing Group to use this framework to successfully deliver a small pilot project of 120 units to test the solution, we were asked to help develop a procurement approach that allowed them to have ultimate control and visibility over the products used and the installation standards required.

We were able to run two procurements, one to identify which heat pump manufacturers were to be specified and one to appoint an installation contractor. The procurements had to be flexible enough to cover a wide range of properties and, using a stringent performance based specification and evaluation process, tested not only product performance but also the ongoing support available from manufacturers and installers to Together Housing Group’s in house maintenance teams, ‘help desk’ staff and, of course, tenants on looking after and using their new heating systems.

Kensa Contracting were appointed on the back of this process to install their own Kensa Shoebox heat pumps in the majority of homes and, in a small number of larger properties, heat pumps from NIBE.

The final outcome is the shared ground loop collects heat from underground bore holes and distributes it to the individual heat pumps in each property, cleanly and efficiently.

Climate Champion Power List

Our own David Kemp was recognised on the inaugural Climate Champion Power list.

This list was compiled to recognise the individuals leading the way to net zero in UK Housing.

“I’m only able to play around in this space because of the support and trust from the Procure Plus leadership team to crack on and pursue opportunities, and of course colleagues in Operations who turn thoughts and ideas into successfully delivered projects.” David Kemp Sustainability and Growth Procure Plus

As we’ve said it’s not all about awards, but it’s always nice to be recognised.