Connaught moves to corner arm's-length repairs market

Repairs and maintenance contractor Connaught is to target prospective arm's-length management organisations in a bid to corner the burgeoning ALMO market.

The company already has long-term contracts worth £200m with six of the round one and two ALMOs: First Choice Homes Oldham, Bolton at Home, Tristar (Stockton-on-Tees), Ashfield Homes, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing and Hounslow Homes.

It is in talks with a number of third-round ALMOs and plans to approach the 19 authorities that have expressed an interest in bidding as part of a fourth round (HT 10 October, page 11). The government intends to allocate £700m to the third- and fourth-round ALMOs up until 2006, and funding seems set to continue at least until the decent homes target deadline in 2010.

Andy Steele, Connaught's managing director, said prospective ALMOS should decide on a strategy for tackling repairs and maintenance backlogs before their funding is confirmed. He added: "When the government gives a ALMO the go-ahead, they often have only a short time to get their spending plans in place. Ideally, we would like to be involved as early as possible, so we can carry out a stock condition survey and see what needs to be done. Then we can help the council improve its inspection rating [to the level] necessary to release the funding."

Steele said that the need for early partnering would be particularly important for the fourth-round bidders, which have less time to meet the decent homes target.