Full steam ahead for procurement
Welsh Housing Quarterly: September 2006 
An update from GENuS – a consortium of four housing associations based in South East Wales – Gwerin Housing, Eastern Valley Housing, Newport Housing Trust and Seren Group.
What's happening in GENuS?
GENuS is a consortium made up of Gwerin and Eastern Valley Housing Associations, Newport Housing Trust and the Seren Group.
With the support of the Welsh Assembly Government, GENuS is investing in the region of £130 million over the next three years in the creation of new homes and the maintenance of existing properties across the region.
The drive for GENuS is to ensure that customers benefit from an increased supply of homes and maintenance services which are innovative, efficient and add value.
GENuS plans are underpinned by the commitment and encouragement of our key local authority partners. The GENuS Consortium has proved, over the past year, how we are going from strength to strength.
We recognise that to be successful we need to be clear about what we are seeking to achieve. Collaborative working is now part of everyday working life. With knowledge being shared among the GENuS members and practical support provided, unnecessary waste is cut from our business processes. Over the last year we have focused on our Procurement Strategy, with the help of external advisors, Evolution IP.
We have made positive progress on:
- Integrating asset management and developing programmes
- Delivering effective supply chain management
- Increased partnership working
- Performance management systems
- Establishing mechanisms for continuous improvement in quality and efficiency in
o Procurement
o Establishing local employment initiatives
We have committed to deliver measurable wins in:
- Whole life costings and value for money
- Increasing innovation and extending the use of modern methods of construction
- Delivering sustainable homes
- Improving the energy efficiency of existing stock
Perhaps most importantly, the success of GENuS will lead to a boost for the local economy and an increase in employment for local people.
Seeing wins already ….
Increased customer satisfaction
- Our customers are seeing more new homes delivered and much larger co-ordinated major repair programmes.
Increased investment
- GENuS secured £48 million private finance from the Nationwide Building Society and Barclays Bank, matching the Social Housing Grant secured in partnership with Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen and Powys Councils.
Hitting targets ….
Increased savings
- Through our current procurement strategy, it is estimated that GENuS will achieve savings of 5% over the next three years, which will be reinvested in our tenants' homes.
We can confidently say that collaborative working has made a real difference to the way we approach joint working – with each other, local authority partners and contractors. It's a real cultural shift. A shift to a more open book and open minded style. As a relatively new Consortium we are still at the start of our journey. However each one of us in GENuS is committed to making this happen.
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