Major social landlord appoints 17 firms to £12.8m legal services framework

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Sovereign Housing, one of the largest housing associations in the UK, has named 17 law firms to a legal services framework worth an estimated £12.8m over five years.

Details: 12.Jan.2022

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The successful firms were:

Ashfords
Bevan Brittan
Birketts
Blake Morgan
Capsticks
Clarke Willmott
Cobb Warren
Devonshires
Foot Anstey
Knights
Osborne Clarke
Pennington Manches Cooper
TLT
Tozers
Trowers & Hamlins
Winckworth Sherwood
Wright Hassall

The contract was divided into six lots. According to the contract notice these were:

Development and Property (Residential and Commercial)
Finance and Securitisation
Governance and Corporate Services
Human Resources
Housing Management
Procurement and Commercial

Sovereign Housing Association manages 60,000 homes and covers Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Devon, Wiltshire, the West of England and the Isle of Wight.

The social landlord said: "Traditionally, selecting a new partner firm involves questions on quality of service, risk management, competitive pricing, knowledge of the housing sector and the ability of the applicant to understand the wider political context of the world of housing.

"However, the most recent round of tenders also gave applicants the opportunity to impress with their progress on Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), as well as giving applications with strong social value commitments a more positive weighting."

Jacky Coldwell Newton, Head of Legal Services (External), for Sovereign, said: “We are an organisation that takes our Environment Social Governance (ESG) responsibilities seriously. This means examining our supply chain and making sure that the organisations we work with buy into our ‘big picture thinking’ too.

“Obviously, we need access to expert lawyers who are great at what they do. But it’s also important to us that we gain value for our residents - whether that’s work experience opportunities, an environmental pledge that benefits one of our neighbourhoods, or a financial commitment towards equipment or resources - we need to know that our partners feel the same way as us about working towards net zero and creating a working and living environment that is fair, safe and affordable.”