Procurement for Housing (PfH) has appointed 27 providers to the 5th technology of its social housing rising disruptors (SHED) framework – the most important cohort for the reason that framework used to be established in 2022.
The price of contracts awarded beneath SHED quadrupled in 2025 when put next with 2024. With the framework more and more utilized by councils and housing associations to acquire rising applied sciences from fledgling innovators, the brand new technology of the framework – SHED 5 – is price £500m over 3 years, up from £100m for the former iteration.
PfH has labored once more with the Disruptive Innovators Community (DIN), a social housing club affiliation, to spot early level tech companies who supply novel products and services that can’t be sourced simply thru conventional public procurement routes.
Via their nature, those merchandise are new or extremely specialized, and this implies social housing procurement groups ceaselessly lack the technical reference issues had to specify them or evaluate competing gives, that means they don’t are compatible simply into established procurement routes.
On the similar time, small providers have issue breaking into the social housing marketplace, excluded through advanced bid documentation, top monetary thresholds and different mushy necessities designed for established contractors.
SHED used to be set as much as addresses those problems through providing a simplified, SME-friendly bidding procedure and a compliant approach of social landlords trying out and adopting new answers. Via a snappy desk-based variety procedure, they establish providers that perfect meet their necessities, get pricing data and whole the contracting procedure.
Products and services introduced through this yr’s providers come with modular housing panels created from recycled glass, a self-testing hearth door that displays its personal compliance, a platform predicting house hazards and well being dangers, a wise warmth scheduler permitting citizens to raised keep an eye on their heating prices, an anti-mould coating gadget and a option to lend a hand social landlords be in contact with their citizens.
PfH operations director Neil Butters stated: “SHED used to be created to handle a sensible drawback: housing suppliers wanted get right of entry to to rising tech answers, and smaller providers wanted a path right into a extremely regulated marketplace. 5 generations on, the information displays that this type works. We’re seeing extra social landlords than ever the use of SHED to acquire innovation, and extra SMEs in a position to scale recent answers to chronic demanding situations akin to damp and mildew, development protection, virtual switchover, decarbonisation, tenant wellbeing, asset control and housing provide.”
Annemarie Roberts, affiliate director and belongings lead on the Disruptive Innovators Community, stated: “The social housing surroundings is more difficult than ever ahead of, with groups coping with many right here and now problems, in addition to looking to be in a position for destiny demanding situations. Discovering leading edge, future-focused answers that may be simply procured is strictly the place the SHED framework can lend a hand.
“SHED 5 additionally helps the federal government’s reforms that overhaul public buying laws to lead them to more practical, extra versatile and clear and feature a focal point on opening up contracts to SMEs and extra various providers.”
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