ENERGY improvements to public sector housing are expected to secure or create scores of "green-collar" jobs among local SMEs and social enterprises who win contracts for the work.

That's according to the managing director of Efficiency East Midlands (EEM), a regional procurement consortium which is being set up as a private business to negotiate contracts for millions of pounds worth of work for local authorities and housing associations in the region.

Pete Smith, who is leaving his job as head of procurement at Nottingham City Homes to head the new business on November 2, said member organisations were spending some £30 million alone on solar panel purchase and installation up to April 2012. Although the contracts for much of this work will be won by large installation companies with national profiles, subcontracts to smaller local businesses will bring much needed work and training to Nottinghamshire's renewable energy economy.

Such arrangements are already evident in Nottingham, where EEM has arranged procurement of materials for an £8.5 million scheme to install PV panels on 1,450 Nottingham City Homes properties across the city.

Written into the installation contracts, which were awarded to three national installers – Wates, Kier Group and Keepmoat – was the stipulation that up to 25% of the work must go to local SMEs and social enterprises.

And with further public and private sector housing "retrofitting" contracts set to be arranged under the Government's Green Deal, which will begin in late 2012, there are opportunities for the creation of many more local green collar jobs and training places over the coming years.

"We saw an opportunity with EEM to increase buying power through aggregated volumes and, in turn, achieve huge discounts on quality products and services for housing providers across the region," said Mr Smith. "But it is not just about cost alone. It's also about making sure a large amount of the millions we are spending supports the local economy. We insist contractors take on local labour, work with local businesses where they can, encourage work placements and school visits. Where the contracts are large enough, the suppliers and service providers will be contractually bound to offer apprenticeships from the areas they work in."

EEM currently has 17 members which together manage 156,000 homes across the region. These include Nottingham City Homes, three local authorities and housing associations across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. The organisation has been working as a consortium based at Nottingham City Homes. As a business it will be operating from the Icon Business Centre off junction 27 of the M1.

The company is discussing with its members how best to prepare for the Green Deal, which is being introduced to drive down the energy consumption of Britain's small businesses and 26 million homes.

The scheme will encourage householders to make energy efficiency improvements, with the costs of this work being paid back as installments added to energy bills. Although many householders will sign contracts with private installers to do the work, local authorities are expected to play key roles in the roll-out. Ministers believe Green Deal could support 250,000 green economy jobs over 20 years.

The creation of a new regional "retrofit" fund called East Midlands Green to support implementation of Green Deal is being driven by EEM, supported by Camco and the Energy Saving Trust. Such measures are deemed necessary to help bring down public spending.

Mr Smith said EEM's buying power meant that the cost of PV supply and installation in the NCH contract was £5,800 per household, compared to £11-£14,000 per household if contracted privately. Savings are ultimately passed on to council tax-payers.