Real estate services

Tender description

Oxford City Housing Ltd (OCHL) is undertaking this procurement process to secure up to 3 (as a maximum) suppliers to provide estate agency services for its ‘New Homes’ development programme. Oxford City Housing Ltd (OCHL) was set up in 2016 and is enabling the City Council to directly deliver social rented housing alongside the provision of shared ownership and private units which cross subsidise the social rented units. OCHL has therefore launched the Council into the shared ownership and private sales new homes market in Oxford City, for which they require estate agency services throughout the development process through to off plan and completed unit sales. Oxford City Housing Ltd (OCHL) is undertaking this procurement process to secure up to 3 (as a maximum) suppliers to provide estate agency services for its ‘New Homes’ development programme. Oxford City Housing Ltd (OCHL) was set up in 2016 and is enabling the City Council to directly deliver social rented housing alongside the provision of shared ownership and private units which cross subsidise the social rented units. OCHL has therefore launched the Council into the shared ownership and private sales new homes market in Oxford City, for which they require estate agency services throughout the development process through to off plan and completed unit sales. The initial tranche of work will be 7 such new housing developments which are at (or very close to) delivery stage. They comprise a mix of shared ownership, private sale homes and social rented homes. There are an additional 8 sites currently at the planning and feasibility stage — as a ‘medium term’ pipeline — with a list of further sites being considered longer term. The developments range from city centre to outer ‘ring road’ locations and will therefore vary in character and customer base. For this reason OCHL are retaining the flexibility to appoint up to 3 suppliers to ensure the necessary range of supplier expertise to be secured. OCHL are also undertaking a separate but parallel procurement process to secure a provider of external professional advice on: OCHL company branding, market positioning and product development. The focus of this associated (but separate) procurement exercise is on ‘Branding’ — establishing an overall name/brand for OCHL’s new homes business and developing the brand/offer as a whole. OCHL requires that the appointed estate agent works alongside the branding consultant, to ensure an iterative process of ideas/best practice/deliverability/cost is worked through and the optimised approach agreed. OCHL want to ensure the estate agency role is embedded early in the process, to ensure marketability issues are built into the feasibility work stage for each scheme and are regularly revisited and necessary adjustments made as the scheme evolves to maximise sale potential. This in turn will drive the success of the new venture. OCHL require an agent who can identify the full scope of activities necessary to deliver the outputs. OCHL are committed to building a strong, collaborative relationship with the appointed agent(s) to maximise sales of units (both price and sales take up rate) and our pipeline of planned developments, whilst strengthening our brand and reputation. OCHL require a pro-active agent(s) who fully understands the housing product range to be developed and can accurately identify the target market(s). The agent(s) will need to be able to set out a clear and well-structured strategy from pre-marketing stages including site/scheme branding, full marketing through to arrangement of mortgages (and other potential add on services) and completion of sales and any ‘add-on’ services. OCHL require a firm who are able to constantly adapt and innovate such that lessons learnt, emerging trends and market fluctuations are rapidly understood and measures put in place to use these to best advantage (keep ahead of the game) and equally to protect OCHL’s interests. The first tranche of sites to be marketed are detailed in the ITT. Similar services will be required for further sites currently in ‘feasibility stage’ and longer term sites coming forward for development. Overall OCHL are looking at delivering a programme of over 200 new homes as part of the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal with the Government. The Growth Deal is focused on providing additional homes and infrastructure in the County. Further sites capable of delivering over 500 additional homes are being examined for feasibility.