Bowater Projects completes five-year £12m project with housing association Midland Heart

Bowater Projects completes five-year £12m project with housing association Midland Heart

April 8, 2015

The contract was secured via the LHC framework – a not-for-profit consortium that provides procurement solutions for public sector bodies like local authorities and housing associations.

Over the project’s five years, Bowater Projects coordinated the supply and installation of around 34,000 frames to between 5,500 and 6,000 properties in the Midlands. System 10 profile from Halo was used for the PVC-U window and door installations. Timber-framed windows, double rebate composite doors and fire doors were also supplied and fitted over the course of the project.

Contract Manager for Bowater Projects, Darren Ansell comments: “Halo’s System 10 was ideal for this venture. One of the company’s bestselling products, it delivers the energy-efficiency, thermal insulation and weatherproofing performance you’d expect of a high-end PVC-U glazing system, all at a price that perfectly fit Midland Heart’s budget.”

Bowater Projects specialises in seeing large-scale contracts through from the point of concept to handover. It coordinates surveyors, systems suppliers, fabricators, installers and contractors to deliver the best quality products, planning and service within a specified budget.

Darren continues: “Our proximity to Midland Heart’s Birmingham base made us a natural choice to oversee this project. Our knowledge of local suppliers and services helped us to secure the best deals, even for products that many wouldn’t associate with the Bowater name – timber-framed windows, for example.

“Besides the significant scale of the project, a hallmark of our work with Midland Heart has been the considerable amount of collaboration there’s been with the client. We worked closely together to help secure planning permission to update the Bishmillah Building – an historic complex of flats, owned and managed by Midland Heart in central Birmingham – identifying solutions that satisfied the criteria of both the client and the local council.

“Additionally, we’ve actively consulted with residents living on estates under renovation, holding open days where a range of viable products were displayed and asking for opinions on which they thought most suitable for the development.”

“It is, of course, a priority for organisations like Midland Heart to achieve the very best value for money. We have been able to listen to their suggestions for product development, identifying and implementing engineering solutions to facilitate them, while still meeting the project’s goals with only minimal increases in cost.”

Colin Torley, Sales and Marketing Director for The VEKA UK Group said: “Bowater Projects’ work with Midland Heart is a great demonstration of The VEKA UK Group’s many facets. Our companies are not only renowned for the industry-leading quality of their products but the exceptional standard of their service too.

“Bowater Projects’ is ideally placed within The VEKA UK Group to advise its clients on an exemplary range of PVC-U window and door systems, tailoring its recommendations to the requirements of individual clients, projects and budgets. Its logistical and technical expertise further raise it above the competition, bringing projects in, on-time and in budget. I congratulate the Bowater team on their successful completion of another impressive project.”