WILLMOTT Dixon Group’s repair and maintenance company Willmott Dixon Partnerships has won a seven-year contract worth £147m with Newcastle social housing firm Home Group.

The contract, which has an option to be extended by another two years, will see Willmott Dixon responsible for 17,000 Home properties in the central and north west regions of the country and includes delivering responsive repairs and voids maintenance along with planned works and gas inspections.

The North West contract starts in spring 2012 and will see Willmott Dixon maintain 9,700 homes primarily across Cumbria and the Lake District at a value of £14m per year.

The central region also starts next spring and covers 7,000 properties from North Yorkshire to Milton Keynes at £7m per year.

Willmott Dixon Partnerships managing director Mick Williamson said: “We are delighted to be given this opportunity to work with Home and achieve the unique Willmott Dixon approach outlined in our ‘Transformational Change’ paper published this year.

“This focuses on how an outsourced company can deliver a real step change in service as well as creating major legacy benefits through skills training, apprenticeship investment and community involvement.”

Home Group’s director of customer service property, Jim Preston, added: “We are delighted that Willmott Dixon has won these contracts as part of our wider national procurement of new contractors across the country. We were very impressed with their innovative thoughts and ideas. We already have a close partnership with the company who are currently working with us to deliver some of our new build projects.”