Member Article

Vivark secures contract to complete home adaptations in Knowsley

Liverpool based facilities management company and social enterprise, Vivark, part of First Ark Group, has secured a year-long contract to provide half a million pounds worth of adaptations to the homes of Knowsley Housing Trust (KHT) tenants who require changes to their living space due to illness or age.

Activity has already begun on the contract, with initial work including the installation of level access showers and ramps for KHT tenants with limited mobility. Future adaptions that are likely to be conducted by Vivark include the installation of handrails and stair lifts, and major room layout changes such as repositioning walls and making door frames wider to assist tenants with reduced mobility.

Each set of alterations for a tenant’s home is decided upon by an NHS occupational therapist, who then refers their suggestions to KHT before the work is completed by Vivark. Modifying homes at the current rate means over £40,500 of improvements are being conducted by Vivark’s expert team each month and securing this contract has created six new jobs for local people across the Liverpool city region.

Executive director at Vivark, Tony Cahill, said: “The contract win is going to have a positive impact across our local community. Not only has it demonstrated the trust that suppliers have in the expertise of the Vivark team and its service offering, it means that the lives of many of KHT’s tenants are going to be improved. This contract complements our Care and Repair service, which includes a library of free of charge resources for Knowsley parents and carers of children with learning disabilities to loan within its offering.

“As Vivark is a social enterprise, we will ensure that we reinvest the profits that we make from this contract. This means, in turn, we’ll be able to continue to grow as a company and continue to create more jobs for people in the communities in which we work.”

The contract win mirrors the motivation of Vivark and First Ark Group, which is to deliver real social value and investment to generate growth in the communities in which it works. To find out more about Vivark, please visit www.vivark.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .