Reading Council has chosen a consortium including Windsor Housing and Southern Housing Group as its preferred bidder on a £59.1m private finance initiative pathfinder scheme.
The consortium, called Affinity, also includes bank Nationwide, contractor Wates and technical consultant Gleeds. It beat two rivals, Partners for Improvement in Reading – including Airways Housing – and Thames Valley Housing, for the project, which involves the refurbishment of 1450 houses in the North Whitley area. Work is expected to begin as part of the 30-year contract in the autumn, with the majority completed by 2008.

The announcement is the penultimate step in two years of negotiation that is expected to reach the final contract stage in June.

Like the recently signed PFI deals in Islington, north London, and Plymouth Grove, Manchester, the scheme has taken a long time to reach the final stages – in this case, dogged by a series of renegotiations.

Also, the council has increased the amount of government money it felt it needed. In March 2000 it was allocated £18.4m, but this rose to £59.1m in July 2002, after the council decided it need greater investment to meet the decent homes standard.

Source

Housing Today