A Western Isles social housing group are planning a £12million refurbishment of all of their housing stock in the next few years.
Bids are being sought for a contractor to carry out extensive work on housing stock belonging to the Hebridean Housing Partnership (HHP).
The work will include new roofing, replacement heating systems and overhauls of the electrical supply.
The partnership are responsible for social housing in the Western Isles, with the works being broken into phases in Lewis and Harris and also in the Uists and Barra.
The HHP was set up to run the Western Isles’ former council housing stock.
Director of operations John Maciver said the investment was a sign of the body “displaying our responsibility as a landlord”.
The contract is due to run for the next four years and all of the housing body’s stock will be surveyed to see what improvements are required.
A major part of the proposals are aimed at making houses more efficient at containing heat, including upgrading heating systems and better insulation in roofs, doors and windows.
It follows a report by the HHP published last year which suggested that nearly 1,400 of tenants have to spend more than 10% of income in heating.
Mr Maciver said: “We will survey of all of our housing stock and identify what is most needed in each individual case.
“We will also consider the longer term issues and target investment towards that as best we can.
“We are coming to the end of a similar framework programme and we are planning how best to continue for the next four years.
“We are displaying our responsibility as a landlord which is to continue to maintain our stock to a high standard.”
The work also includes a commitment to a number of community engagement events including coffee morning ‘to meet the contractor’ and working within local schools.