Wiltshire Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire in South West England.
Pennington Choices was appointed to provide Wiltshire Council with a comprehensive Stock Condition Survey programme. This includes the provision of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) as well as digital floorplans as and when necessary.
The Stock Condition Surveys involve a thorough visual inspection of each property’s physical condition, evaluating its components and assessing the remaining lifespan of each. This information is essential for informing Wiltshire Council’s long-term maintenance and investment decisions.
Each property will be assessed in line with Decent Homes Standards and will include a grading of all 29 facets of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Any category 1 HHSRS hazards identified will be reported immediately to Wiltshire Council’s nominated member of management.
Energy efficiency data will be captured as part of the survey where a lodged EPC is not required. Each survey will include digital photographic records of the front elevation of each property and each room to capture relevant information. These photos will be presented electronically and indexed by property address and UPRN. All completed surveys will be validated monthly before the data is exported into a suitable data loader sheet for upload into Wiltshire Council’s housing management system.
To ensure the programme fully meets Wiltshire Council's requirements, we will work closely with them to configure a custom template. This includes additional question sets, such as those on disabled adaptations and fire safety measures. The condition coding required for all component assessments and HHSRS gradings will be aligned with Wiltshire Council’s existing methodology. A pilot phase will also be conducted to ensure the data aligns with expectations, allowing for any necessary adjustments.
Our Planning, Scheduling and Dispatch (PSD) team will manage tenant communication and appointment scheduling, sending out dual-branded letters from Wiltshire Council and Pennington Choices. Appointments will be arranged via freephone, SMS, or email with our PSD team or the surveyor directly.
We are developing a collaborative relationship with Wiltshire Council thus far, and we look forward to continuing this successful partnership in delivering high-quality results.
We assisted Wiltshire Council in choosing an efficient, straightforward, and compliant route to market to undertake their stock condition and energy performance certificate programme. As a result of working with many different procurement Consortia, we presented Wiltshire Council with several compliant routes to market to ensure the work could be undertaken swiftly whilst representing value for money and quality. Ultimately, a direct award was made via Procure Public’s Building and Stock Condition Surveyors Framework. This approach allowed the Council to remain compliant with public sector procurement legislation and their own internal governance, whilst also facilitating a streamlined process that allowed us to mobilise and begin site work within weeks.