2.1  Failure to Make Contact

2.1.1  The Contractor in order to secure access to a Dwelling prior to the issue of a Certificate of Availability (Full Standard) in relation to that Dwelling will employ two levels of personnel who will make contact with Tenants in order to subsequently gain access to individual Dwellings.  These are:

(a)  Resident Liaison Officers, who will contact Tenants and their households in the build up to the [Initial Refurbishment] Works being undertaken.  Efforts will be made by the Contractor to ensure that contact is by way of direct face-to-face communications.  This will assist both the Tenant with his household and the Contractor to plan for the works to be undertaken.

(b)  Site Foreman, who will contact the Tenant on the day that Initial Refurbishment Works are due to commence.

2.1.2  In addition to these direct forms of contact, the Contractor will also produce regular and appropriate project newsletters, project bulletin boards, and other similar modes of communication that will help to establish strong links with the community as well as provide robust information as to the scope and timing of the [Initial Refurbishment] Works to each Dwelling.

2.1.3  Specifically, the Contractor will undertake that:

(a)  the Resident Liaison Officer will write to individual Tenants not less than 28 days before the [Initial Refurbishment] Works are due to commence on their Dwelling.  Attempts will be made to deliver this letter personally to establish face- to- face contact.  If this is not possible, the letter will provide contact details for the Resident Liaison Officer to allow Tenants and other members of his household to make an appointment at a mutually convenient time;

(b)  regardless of whether or not contact was established from the initial letter, a further letter will be issued to the Tenant not less than 7 days prior to the [Initial Refurbishment] Works commencing.  This will confirm arrangements made, or request the Tenant or a member of his household to make urgent contact with the Resident Liaison Officer.  Again, attempts will be made to deliver this personally; and

(c)  in the event of Tenant holidays or pressing personal circumstances, such as family bereavement or illness, the Contractor will agree with a Tenant a mutually convenient alternative time for the [Initial Refurbishment] Works to be undertaken and on Access Refusal that will have deemed to have taken place.

2.1.4  The Site Foreman will attend the Dwelling on the morning the [Initial Refurbishment] Works are due to commence.  This will allow the Tenant or members of his household to meet those delivering the [Initial Refurbishment] Works and ask any last minute queries.  If no response is received, a card will be posted through the letter box asking the Tenant to make immediate contact with either the Resident Liaison Officer or the site office.  This will confirm that the team will attend again the next Business Day.  This card will be multi-lingual if the Tenancy or other information available to the Contractor suggests that the Tenant and/or a household belongs to an ethnic minority.  The Contractor shall also, if necessary, arrange access to dedicated language line or to a locally available specialist special needs support as the case may require.  These services will be provided as soon as it becomes known to the Contractor that the Tenant or his household may need them.

2.1.5  Regardless of whether a response from the procedure contained in paragraph 2.1.4 above was obtained, that procedure will be repeated the next Business Days.

2.1.6  The procedure contained in paragraph 2.1.4 above will be repeated for a third consecutive Business Days.  In the event that no response is obtained, an Access Refusal Event will have occurred and a card will be left as previously, but this will shortly be followed by a letter confirming that attempts had been made to access the Dwelling to undertake the [Initial Refurbishment] Works, and that the [Initial Refurbishment] Works would now be postponed until such time as the Dwelling is vacated by the Tenant.