Saltire’s 20-year commitment to North Lanarkshire Council continues

Saltire was originally formed in 2000 following the privatisation of the DLO of North Lanarkshire Council. This included the transfer of a proportion of staff from NLC to Saltire.

Saltire Facilities Management have been working with North Lanarkshire Council since January 2001 and have been ensuring safety and compliance in gas properties as well as other fuel types within their housing stock.

The initial contract was for 10 years. This was re-tendered in 2011 and Saltire was awarded a new contract to deliver gas servicing, maintenance and ad-hoc boiler installations for North Lanarkshire Councils housing stock of circa 37,000 properties. This number has fluctuated over the years with council properties being bought by tenants and also new developments acquired.

This was a 10-year contract with an optional 1+1+1 extensions with the maximum overall term being 13 years. Following committee approval, Saltire have now been awarded the full extension available which sees the current contract / relationship continuing until January 2024.

Range of services

This is a comprehensive contract providing central heating service, repair, maintenance and ad-hoc installations, encompassing gas, electric storage, electric panel, and electric wet, Biomass, ASHP, Solid Fuel and Solar PV for tenanted and void properties across the geographical area of North Lanarkshire.

Outstanding customer service

Saltire assisted North Lanarkshire to bring their housing stock up to standard following changes in electrical compliance meaning that all properties must have compliant, interlinked smoke alarms, heat alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Saltire have completed over 30,000 of these upgrades within North Lanarkshire properties and the final few thousand are being captured via forced entry due to various access attempts.

At any time, around 120 Saltire tradespeople are dedicated to delivering contracts on behalf of NLC including installation teams, gas engineers, electricians and joiners, all directly employed from the local community.

Month on month, Saltire exceed the KPI’s set out within the contract for emergency repairs, void works and other general routine repairs. The priority for Saltire and NLC is to ensure that the properties are maintained to a high standard, meeting all legislative requirements and providing safe and compliant properties for their tenant.

Saltire’s 24/7/365 Contact Centre manages calls directly from NLC tenants, where our Customer Service Advisors log the call directly on NLC’s housing management system, HSMS. The Contact Centre staff are all directly employed, most of whom are long standing members of the Saltire team.

The job is transferred via an interface to Saltire’s dynamic planning and scheduling system, Aeromark, which allows dispatch staff to closely monitor all of the work booked in and that these jobs are attended to within the timescales set out in the SLA’s.

On completion, the job details are transferred to NLC’s system, including any landlord gas safety records, installation certificates, etc. This interface is invaluable in creating a seamless process between NLC and Saltire for ensuring all information is available in real-time and accessible to both parties. Saltire have been able to customise and prepare reports in support of Scottish Housing Regulator requirements, e.g. first- time-fix and customer satisfaction. In addition, it also allows for internal management reports such as recall rates and boiler stock profiles.

NLC also have an independent auditor, CORGI, who check both paperwork and workmanship of a % of jobs completed every month. Saltire continue to achieve excellent results for both month on month and are often a large % above the industry averages.

Saltire are very proud of the service they provide to NLC and their tenants and excellent working relationships that have been developed over the years.