by Kim Pidgeon | Apr 15, 2024 | News
An update on who is starting new roles in the housing sector
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Clarion Housing Group has appointed Jock Lennox as its new chair.
The chartered accountant, who is also a non-executive director for house builder Barratt, will take over from David Avery, who has completed his nine-year tenure with Clarion’s board and is stepping down after five years as chair.
Mr Lennox will start working with the housing association from the start of May, but will not take over the role until Mr Avery steps down as chair at the end of July.
The incoming chair, who spent 30 years with accountancy firm Ernst & Young and has developed an active board career said of the appointment: “It is a privilege to join Clarion and its excellent team, who are dedicated to providing and maintaining homes for those who need them most.
“I look forward to supporting the executive and non-executive team, helping them continue the legacy of William Sutton, who bequeathed his fortune to provide homes for the working poor nearly 125 years ago. I want to thank David Avery for all his hard work in maintaining this legacy under his Chairmanship, and for his support in ensuring my smooth transition into the role.”
Clare Miller, Clarion’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jock to Clarion. He brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm to the role, as well as extensive relevant experience.
“Jock’s appointment comes at a time of transition and challenge to our sector as we navigate the UK’s desperate need for more social housing, an increasingly complex regulatory environment and significant financial pressures, as well as our need to retrofit our homes to reduce energy bills for our residents. I look forward to working with Jock to lead Clarion through this period.”
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Places for People make Judy Hardy their permanent Chief Risk Officer.
The appointment comes after Judy initially held the role on an interim basis. She joins Places for People’s executive leadership team and will attend its Audit & Risk Committee.
Judy joined Places for People in 2005 and was most recently the company’s Director of Regulation.
Speaking about Judy’s appointment, Greg Reed, Places for People Group CEO said: “I’m proud that one of our own, someone who has been with us for 18 years, is now our Chief Risk Officer. Judy’s vast experience, her knowledge of UK Housing Regulation and her relationships with our regulatory and governance stakeholders, as well as her brilliant awareness and judgment, made her the right person for this critical role.
“At Places for People, we talk about being a ‘force for good’. Judy is the embodiment of that phrase and I’m delighted therefore that she is now part of our executive team and is leading risk across our whole organisation.”
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Tpas appoints new board chair
Former president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, Alison Inman, has been appointed as the new independent chair of tenant engagement experts, Tpas.
Alison, who has served on the Tpas board as an independent member, is also a board member at Saffron Housing Trust, in addition to being co-founder of social housing campaign group, SHOUT.
“It is an honour to be stepping into the role of Chair at Tpas having been part of the organisation’s growth over recent years,” Alison said of the appointment.
“Like all of us here at Tpas, I am a firm believer that when the voice of the tenant is heard, social housing works better. This has been one of my values for many years and I’ll continue to be a vocal champion of tenant involvement as I take on this role.”
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Peabody has named Tariq Kazi as new their Group Treasurer.
A former financier who helped set up the government’s Affordable Housing Guarantee Scheme, Tariq joins from Southern Housing where he was Director of Financial Strategy.
Tariq will help look after Peabody’s borrowings and ensure the Group, which has more than 108,000 homes and 220,000 residents, has enough long-term financial resources to invest in its existing homes, build new homes and create communities.
He’ll also be responsible for credit ratings agencies and bank and bond market investor relations across the Group’s £6bn treasury portfolio.
“The current economic climate means it’s more important than ever that we keep a strong balance sheet to deliver benefits for residents now and in the future,” said Tariq.
“We need to carefully manage financial risk so we can continue to invest in our homes and communities and help people flourish.”
Tariq’s arrival at Peabody follows on from the announcement earlier this month that Phil Day will join as the Group’s new Chief Financial Officer starting in September.
by Kim Pidgeon | Aug 18, 2023 | News
The build’s performance data will be shared with the Government ahead of its new Future Homes Standard coming into force in 2025
Clarion Housing Group will embark on a landmark scheme to create seven highly efficient and affordable new homes in Cottered, East Herfordshire.
The project will see four vacant bungalows in the village redeveloped into seven terraced houses and bungalows by the social landlord, architect Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE) and contractor LIFE Build.
The two property types will feature different technologies, air tightness and energy performance.
The two housebuilding approaches are in line with the upcoming 2025 Future Homes Standard (FHS). Using the pilot scheme, Clarion will explore the process and costs to achieve FHS performance and will report its findings back to Government.
New residents of the highly energy efficient development – which will all be for affordable rent – will have warmer homes and cheaper energy bills than most older-built properties.
The five houses are being built using a ‘fabric-led’ approach and will feature a mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) system and improved thermal performance. They will feature Mixergy smart hot water tanks, and a mix of electric radiators or infrared panels for heating.
The two bungalows will adopt a ‘technology-led’ approach using a mechanical extract ventilation (MEV) system to continuously extract air from the properties. Wet radiator systems will be powered by an air-source heat pump, which will provide hot water via a linked cylinder.
All seven homes, which are due to be completed in February 2024, will also include photovoltaic solar panels.
Once residents have moved into the finished homes, Clarion and PTE will run post-occupancy testing for one year to monitor the comfort and performance of the two property types – including temperature and humidity levels, ventilation and energy consumption.
The testing will also focus heavily on the resident experience, assessing if residents are maximising the performance of the homes and whether the technology is suited to their needs.
Richard Cook, group development director at Clarion Housing Group will report the post-occupancy performance data at Cottered to Government, which will publish its new Future Homes Standard in 2024.
The new building standard is set to come into force in 2025, when all new housing is required to be ‘zero carbon’ ready.
by Kim Pidgeon | Jun 28, 2023 | News
Greenoak expands
Housing provider Stonewater has transferred 640 homes across Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex and Berkshire to Greenoak Housing Association.
Greenoak became a subsidiary of Stonewater Group at the end of 2022.
Greenoak will be responsible for providing housing management services to customers while Stonewater will continue to manage the maintenance of the homes. The Greenoak Direct Services Team will then take over responsibility for responsive repairs on a phased basis.
Marcus Canning, Interim Director at Greenoak, said: “From the outset it has always been the intention of the partnership between Greenoak and Stonewater to transfer these properties into our control.
“Residents will be minimally impacted and will benefit from the expertise and experience of two forward-thinking housing associations.”
LFC regains Melwood
Torus has sold Liverpool Football Club’s (LFC) former training ground Melwood back to the club.
The North-West affordable housing provider and developer acquired the site in 2019 – with the men’s first team moving to the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby in 2020.
Upon re-acquiring the ground, LFC has announced plans for Melwood to become the new training base for Liverpool FC Women’s first team and their Professional Game Academy.
LFC also plans to use the site for community outreach facilities as well as for offering education to young people via the Fowler Education and Football Academy (FEFA).
Chris Bowen, managing director at Torus Developments, added: “All our developments are designed to help transform places and inspire growth. We believe Liverpool FC is best-placed to use this location to support the growth of women’s football and to maximise the benefit of the site to the wider community.
“Although we will not be delivering this development, Torus will continue to seek other opportunities to develop affordable homes in Liverpool and to help local communities thrive.”
WDH back on the streets
Social housing provider WDH is underway with their second ‘On Your Street’ project.
WDH has over 32,000 homes across the Wakefield district and wider operating area across the north of England.
In 2022, the inaugural year of the project, the WDH On Your Street team made 40,953 visits and phone calls (because not everyone is home first time.)
13,535 surveys were completed either in person, over the phone or online. 5,749 people asked for support from the team, with 549 needing emergency support.
The team responded to 675 requests for money, benefit, and debt advice from customers.
Among the improvements made as a result of the visits and comments to the survey were: installing swing gates to reduce anti-social behaviour; providing off street parking in places where it was possible; holding ‘days of action’ with groups and other agencies to make improvements to estates and increase recycling; and increasing security in and around some apartment buildings.
Clarion transfers 400+ homes to Housing 21
Housing 21 is continuing its portfolio expansion with an acquisition of 445 properties from Clarion Housing.
Housing 21 is a not for profit provider of Retirement Living and Extra Care for older people of modest means. It operates in 240 local authority areas across England, managing over 22,800 Retirement Living and Extra Care properties and providing over 38,000 hours of social care each week.
The purchase includes a total of 11 schemes located in London, East Anglia and the South East and follows the acquisition of 472 properties from Notting Hill Genesis in February this year.
The schemes moving across in the transfer from Clarion to Housing 21 include Windmill Court, Redmayne View and Duncan Court.
by Kim Pidgeon | Mar 11, 2019 | News
Clarion Housing Group’s latest acquisition is part of their £109m (Gross Development Value) scheme in the Alperton housing zone, which aims to deliver around 650 new homes in the borough over the next three years. From that number, more than 550 homes will be affordable.
The new purchase is for the Minavil House site, on which 251 new homes will be built. The provider says 215 of those will be for shared ownership and 36 will be for affordable rent.
The development, which already has full planning permission, is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Philip Browne, new business and partnerships director for Clarion Housing Group said: “Clarion has a major role to play in tackling the housing crisis and we are investing £13bn nationally in our development programme.
“London is at the sharp end of the housing crisis and delivering affordable housing in the capital remains an absolute priority for us.”
The Minavil House scheme includes around £8m of grant funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA).
James Murray, deputy mayor for housing and residential development added: “We are working with partners across London to build more social rented and other genuinely affordable homes.
“We welcome Clarion’s commitment to building more affordable housing in Brent, and we will continue to work together to tackle London’s housing crisis.”
This new purchase comes as building work is underway on a separate scheme in Alperton. The site, on the disused industrial site at Abbey Wharf, will create 135 shared ownership and affordable rented homes.
Social landlord Clarion has also submitted a planning application jointly with developer R55 to build 258 new homes on a brownfield site on Dudden Hill Lane. The submission comprises 114 shared ownership homes, 54 affordable rented homes and 90 homes for sale.
Through its strategic housing partnership with the Mayor of London, Clarion aims to deliver 5,600 affordable homes across the capital by 2021.
