Jobs boost as CTS Projects wins £77.6m Housing Executive contract

The win means the rapidly growing company will open a new office in Lisburn to service the contract, which will also see the creation of 70 jobs.

This will double total employee figures for the second time this year, with CTS Projects also pledging to expand its apprenticeship scheme.

The contractor is one of four companies that have been chosen by the Housing Executive to provide tenants of its 87,000 homes across Northern Ireland with a high quality repairs service that will go beyond traditional response maintenance.

“We are very proud to have been appointed as one of the Housing Executive’s four contractors for housing repairs, which is testament to the high quality and competitiveness of our offering,” said CTS managing director Connaire McGreevy.

“We are very proud to have been appointed as one of the Housing Executive’s four contractors for housing repairs, which is testament to the high quality and competitiveness of our offering.

“This is a hugely significant development for CTS Projects, and I conservatively estimate that we will take on an additional 70 employees, doubling our employee numbers to 140.

“We’ll be delivering a total building maintenance package from our current office in Warrenpoint, and a new office in Lisburn which I expect to open before the end of the year.”

The new roles will be varied, including joiners, bricklayers, quantity surveyors and contract managers.

“We will also offer an increased number of apprenticeships which is good news in terms of youth employability and key to ensuring we have the necessary skill sets to support our business expansion,” he added.

Housing Executive CEO, Clark Bailie, said: “We are delighted to announce these new contracts as an real opportunity to provide tenants with high quality repairs service.

“Alongside the organisation’s planned maintenance programme, the repairs service will see a substantial investment in local economy and provides long-term assurance of job security and training opportunities for four local contracts.

“Over the past year, we have reviewed contracts, to determine how best a modern and efficient service should be delivered.

“We have taken into account experiences of contractors, best practice elsewhere and the views of customers.

“Given the potential value of this contract the organisation is also eager to ensure that social value is realised through these contracts and that the local communities we work with benefit from this. It is a requirement for each contract lot area to establish a social housing orientated social enterprise.”

In April 2016, CTS Projects announced it had won contracts worth £14m with four housing associations that took employment at the firm from 38 to 70.

CTS Projects now carries out 40% of Northern Ireland’s social housing heating maintenance and upgrades.