Ethnic building & maintenance contractors-Leicester area-opportunity
Richard Lomax
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PRESS RELEASE...ISSUED 20/05/96
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MORE HELP PLANNED FOR ETHNIC CONTRACTORS
Members of Leicestershire¹s ethnic business community are missing out on
opportunities for housing association contracts, a city organisation says.
The claim has been made by de Montfort Housing Society, which has launched
an initiative to help ethnic businesses secure trade.
Mr Ballu Patel, the society¹s community development manager, said:
³Contractors from the ethnic community are failing to appear on housing
associations¹ select lists.
³Therefore, they are not able to tender for either day-to-day maintenance
work or development work carried out by housing associations.²
de Montfort Housing Society, Leicester City Council and other housing
groups and agencies have joined together in planning a seminar to help
ethnic firms. The event set to take place in the city on Wednesday, June
5 is targeted at ethnic contractors to inform them of how to get on to
the housing associations¹ select list of approved firms.
Businesses taking part will also have the opportunity to find out about
the tendering processes for various contracts within the city council as
well as other housing organisations.
Mr Patel said de Montfort Housing Society hopes to produce a directory of
ethnic contractors for use by housing associations in Leicestershire. He
said: ³We are concerned at the under-representation of ethnic businesses
among the firms which are successful in securing housing association
contracts.²
³The support we have already received from various organisations for this
initiative has been encouraging. This reflects the importance of the
issue,² he added.
Housing associations in Leicestershire use a wide range of trades,
professions, suppliers and services in building homes and in the
day-to-day maintenance of properties. The contracts on offer range from a
few pounds to several thousand pounds.
Mr Patel said ethnic firms had an important role to play in multi-cultural
cities such as Leicester. ³We are keen to make them aware of the possible
opportunities that may exist among housing associations. We are also keen
to see a range of contractors attending the meeting from general
builders to particular services such as window cleaning and landscaping,²
he added.
Ethnic businesses taking part in the June seminar will have the
opportunity to meet housing association representatives.
The event is supported by the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, Leicester African Caribbean Association, Leicestershire Asian
Business Association and Business Integration, and is funded by de
Montfort Housing Society and the Housing Corporation.
For more information, contact Mr Ballu Patel, community development
manager, de Montfort Housing Society, 60-62 Granby Street, Leicester LE1
1DH. Telephone Leicester (0116) 254 2123.