about us company location service products intro heating customised products renewables technical information experience training awards testimonials case study news 2006 archive contact us contact emergency numbers links case study As the regional strategic housing authority for Northern Ireland, the Housing Executive is also the major provider of social housing throughout the province. The NIHE vision is to ensure that everyone has access to a decent affordable home in a safe and healthy community. The challenge for the Housing Executive in the delivery of its physical improvement programme is to provide best value by ensuring a high quality of product and customer satisfaction, at a reasonable cost. The 'getting it right first time' approach is fundamentally important in achieving this. The Rethinking Construction report on the UK construction industry, produced in August 1998 by Sir John Egan, highlighted the need for the industry to rethink the way it carries out its business. In it, Sir John said: "We have learnt that continuous and sustained improvement is achievable if we focus all our efforts on delivering the value that our customers need and if we are prepared to challenge the waste of poor quality arising from our existing structures and working practices". The Egan approach gives the contractor a greater incentive to get things right the first time by making him/her responsible for the design and maintenance of improvements. The principles of "rethinking Construction" stressed the importance of: the delivery of first class services understanding the customers needs challenging and improving targets the promotion of partnering In August 2000 the Housing Executive adopted the principles within the Egan Report for introduction on an incremental basis, with 2 Egan contracts being awarded for major heating installations across Northern Ireland. Since committing itself to the principles of  "Constructing Excellence" established by Sir John Egan, the Housing Executive continues to develop its business in partnership with the construction industry. This has required professional staff in the Organisation to review work practices and relationships with clients and contractors alike. The Housing Executive continues to promote this innovative approach as a model of best practice within the industry in Northern Ireland. Significant improvements have been achieved in terms of predictability, quality of product, service and customer satisfaction. In 2001, H&A Mechanical Services Ltd were awarded the contract for the installation and upgrade of heating systems in the North East and North West regions of Northern Ireland encompassing some 30,000 homes. A measure of the success of this approach is that a further four year extension has now been awarded to this contract. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive looks forward to continuing its partnership with H&A Mechanical Services Ltd, as we work together to identify and meet our clients needs.