A WINDOW of opportunity has opened for Malvern Glass with a £5 million, five-year contract with Festival Housing Association.

The door and window replacement deal, for Festival properties across the Malvern Hills and Droitwich, secures 20 jobs and has created four new posts.

Malvern Glass chairman and owner Mel Stocker is delighted.

"I can't put how much it means into words," he said, adding the company would normally need to go out of town for work.

Each year of the contract, Malvern Glass will be replacing windows at 100 Festival properties and doors at 500.

Programme manager Allan Atkins said the deal was a 'partnering agreement', a long-term arrangement which allows both sides to develop a working relationship.

"It's logical if you enter a long-term contract with a local company, the outcome of that is a reduction in costs," he said.

Malvern Glass was invited to bid because it had worked for Festival before and tenants expressed a preference for locally-based companies working in their homes.

Tenants from the area are being encouraged to apply for the jobs the contract will create. Mr Stocker is looking for people to both make and fit windows.

The work is part of a longer-term improvement project for Festival properties as it moves into its second decade.

This year, 200 kitchens and 175 bathrooms have been fitted in local properties. Heating in 98 homes has been switched from electric to gas. Malvern Glass will be replacing windows at 62 properties and putting in 266 doors at 59 homes across the district before the end of this year.

Based in Spring Lane North, the company was formed by Mr Stocker and his wife, Lisa, 25 years ago and serves both retail and business clients.