Have Kier left Sheffield

[Ms Macbeth 75]

Another costly exercise. When housing was being managed by Sheffield Homes, tenants appeared to be listened to when they had concerns. Then housing went back to the council, and now there appears to be less engagement with tenants. Of course that needed more costly rebranding, and now the repairs service are following suit. As Medusa says, it's likely to be many of the same employees.

 

There must be evidence of huge financial savings for the council to have decided to do what patently was too expensive when they contracted out repairs to Kier all those years ago. It will be interesting to see how much can be saved, and at what cost to tenants.

[Marx 10]

They're probably just going in for a rebrand rather than actually getting new vehicles. The same workers who used to work for the council were transferred to Kier and are now going back to the council, so I expect that a lot of physical stuff is also getting transferred.

 

The fleet of new Peugeots is currently being deployed. The Kier vans are being transported off for auction I understand.

[medusa 16]

The fleet of new Peugeots is currently being deployed. The Kier vans are being transported off for auction I understand.

 

Then I stand corrected.

[Bob Arctor 11]

Another costly exercise. When housing was being managed by Sheffield Homes, tenants appeared to be listened to when they had concerns. Then housing went back to the council, and now there appears to be less engagement with tenants. Of course that needed more costly rebranding, and now the repairs service are following suit. As Medusa says, it's likely to be many of the same employees.

 

There must be evidence of huge financial savings for the council to have decided to do what patently was too expensive when they contracted out repairs to Kier all those years ago. It will be interesting to see how much can be saved, and at what cost to tenants.

 

Kier are so incredibly expensive I could never understand why SCC contracted with them. Get 3 quotes for a job including Kier and it's a good bet they will be the most costly.

[ferretman 10]

I once went into the old Bradfield Rd housing office to report my "guttering needs repairing" the girl behind the counter asked "where is it situated" I could not believe when she admitted that she did not know what guttering was. Kier did come and BODGE IT UP.

[Twoflags 10]

Kier are so incredibly expensive I could never understand why SCC contracted with them. Get 3 quotes for a job including Kier and it's a good bet they will be the most costly.

 

the council actually made money from the partnership. As Kier were eligible to take work outside of the scope of the council maintenance contract, Any profit Kier made above £5 millionth council got a share in the profit.

 

Maintenance is transferring back to the council as of April 1st. However it is merely a rebrand, tenants will still receive the same service, by the same workmen and the same management. The only difference I foresee, is that with the reduction in council properties (housing stock sold to Sanctuary etc) is that there may well be redundancies in the pipeline as the council simply will not have the work that Kier did for the number of employees.

[bassett one 452]

just to confirm scc take over april 1st and most things will be the same,plus there is work by various other companys doing roofs,kitchens and bathrooms,so as llong as the money is not restricted by the council everything will be okay.

[neeeeeeeeeek 10]

Another costly exercise. When housing was being managed by Sheffield Homes, tenants appeared to be listened to when they had concerns. Then housing went back to the council, and now there appears to be less engagement with tenants. Of course that needed more costly rebranding, and now the repairs service are following suit. As Medusa says, it's likely to be many of the same employees.

 

There must be evidence of huge financial savings for the council to have decided to do what patently was too expensive when they contracted out repairs to Kier all those years ago. It will be interesting to see how much can be saved, and at what cost to tenants.

 

I get the impression that rather than save them money, this will be a very costly PR exercise for the council. They need to buy an entire new fleet of vans, new back office computer systems, transfer all the staff, train people, Capita will need to supply all the new IT to the staff and in the buildings and they charge the earth for everything. (If they wanted to take work back in house they should have looked at Capita first but that's another thread!)

 

I think the council decided they can't be seen paying an external company to do the work and that they would all look very much better if they took it back in house. They can bleat on about how they are making the big decisions for Sheffield and getting rid of these evil corporate companies who are only out to steal all your hard earned taxes.

 

Ill thought out? Are they ready for this?? Only time will tell.

[sugartip 10]

Does it seem to any Council tenants on here that Kier have become somewhat uninterested in getting repairs done lately?

 

Not just lately, their performance has always been questionable, their quality of work has always been very poor, some time ago they came to fix my friends door frame and the fella ruined it, he admitted he was an electrician not a joiner, three weeks later the same fella turned up to repair the same job he had originally knackered up, very odd.

[apelike 10]

Not just lately, their performance has always been questionable, their quality of work has always been very poor, some time ago they came to fix my friends door frame and the fella ruined it, he admitted he was an electrician not a joiner, three weeks later the same fella turned up to repair the same job he had originally knackered up, very odd.

 

I agree, Kier were appalling for a number of reasons. They were not the cheapest contractor and some of their pricing way OTT and not value for money. They have many apprentices that were not fully trained and left to carry out work sometimes unsupervised, and yet still charged OTT prices. BTW nothing wrong with apprenticeships or having them. They put in bogus reports of work being carried out and finished when it was not and they also got done and fined heavily a while back for "buddy contract quotes."

 

I have personally received a letter stating work on my boiler was now completed when none was ever reported or done. Work to replace broken kitchen floor tiles reported as being completed when its not been done. It actually makes me wonder just how many others have also had these problems.

[badgemush 10]

I moved from Sheffield to the outskirts of Barnsley. Kier also do the council house repairs here. Useless is an understatement.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

No it's Amey now

No. SCC's privatised Surveyors Department is still Kier Asset Management Services Ltd.