L&Q’s David Lewis on ‘sub-optimal’ housing, investing in existing homes and losing top spot in Biggest Builders survey

Mr Lewis started out managing repairs, voids and rent collections in a patch of 300 homes at Milton Court in New Cross, a south London estate so notorious it was nicknamed “Crack City” by a national newspaper in 1989.

He loved the job at Lewisham Council. A highlight was installing a playground where kids from overcrowded homes on the estate could play and befriend their neighbours. He eventually moved up through the ranks. For the past six years, he has overseen L&Q’s portfolio across the UK, as head of property services at the housing association.

Last year, his role expanded to include investment, meaning, as executive group director of property and investment, he is now also responsible for the landlord’s 7,000-home pipeline.

That brings us to the reason for our interview in Old Trafford, to find out why L&Q combined property management with new build in one role, and how Mr Lewis plans to approach the job.

In Mr Lewis’ words, his new role means the landlord is making sure there is a co-ordinated approach to its homes “from cradle to grave” – from design and construction, through repairs and maintenance, to redevelopment or sale. He points out that this approach is not new, as nearly half of the G15 group of large London landlords have already combined the two roles.

We have just come from the groundbreaking ceremony for what was previously the Tamworth Estate. It has taken 20 years to get this development started on the site of former 1960s blocks, and attendees include Paul Dennett, deputy mayor for Greater Manchester.

This joint venture with Trafford Council and house builder Lovell will involve building 147 homes. There is also support from Homes England and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

We are speaking in an empty well-being hub on the lower floor of an extra-care housing scheme run by the landlord.

Limelight, in contrast to the cold and windy development site, is a bustling complex that doubles as a warm hub in winter. Notice boards brim with adverts for community services.

Jumping between both sites mirrors the two tracks of Mr Lewis’ new responsibilities.

“I’ve worked for quite a number of housing associations who develop,” he says. “While it’s colleagues working in the same organisation, there are sometimes tensions that emerge between development teams and what they build, and maintenance teams, what they need to maintain.”

The new approach has resulted in the Single Homes Standard, which will be introduced this summer.

Currently, nine kitchen types can be used in its new homes and five in its major upgrades; only one of these is the same across both groups. Multiply this by all the other things a home needs, and you can see the scale of the issue, Mr Lewis says.

There are two potential gains from the shift in approach, he adds.

First, it is easier to buy fewer types of kit, and the landlord can also make savings by buying in bulk. Second, it helps repair workers know what they will be fixing, down to the handle types used in a kitchen cupboard.

“It’s less about claiming the [Biggest Builder] title, it’s more about us building as many homes as we can that we have the capacity to do, and contribute to solving the housing crisis”

Mr Lewis is also responsible for both the development and repairs budget, and confirms there is “ongoing balancing” between them.

The landlord is known for its development ambition. Until now, it has been a fixture at the top of Inside Housing’s annual list of the Biggest Builders in the sector. But it has been scaling back, in part because of rising building safety costs.

Mr Lewis admits the landlord needs to “catch up” on improving its existing homes and implementing the £3bn, 15-year programme of improvements it has already announced.

A raft of government policies announced since last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review, including the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), the rent settlement and £2.5bn in low-cost loans, will give L&Q capacity to both build and invest at scale. 

It should be noted, however, that our conversation takes place shortly before the Iran war started. Philip Bartlett, a senior economist at NatWest, has already suggested the conflict’s impact on borrowing costs could wipe out any potential saving because of rent certainty.

‘Real emphasis on social rent’

L&Q’s bids for the SAHP and low-cost loans were still being prepared at the time of our chat, and when we follow up after the interview, the landlord declines to provide more details.

Mr Lewis expects L&Q to complete around 2,000 homes this year, which he predicts will put it in the top five housing providers building in the sector; next year it is set to hand over 1,800 homes and start just over 2,000.

Does L&Q want to keep its crown as Inside Housing’s Biggest Builder? “No,” says Mr Lewis.

“I’m not saying we want to be the Biggest Builder. It’s less about claiming the title, it’s more about us building as many homes as we can that we have the capacity to do, and contribute to solving the housing crisis.”

His focus instead appears to be on tenure type. He notes the homelessness crisis that is hitting the capital particularly hard, and it is growing. Because of this, he believes the landlord needs to build as many affordable homes as possible, “with a real emphasis on social rent”.

He acknowledges that market sale will always be needed to cross-subsidise social homes, and he says L&Q will still build shared ownership homes despite recording lower scores for these properties (30% for overall satisfaction, 13% for complaint-handling) in the tenant satisfaction measures last year.

But he stresses L&Q was set up to build homes people can afford.

“Some people can afford shared ownership. Lots of people can’t. So we want to be able to make sure the foundation is social rent, rented accommodation, those tenures like London Living Rent, for instance, another tenure that’s available,” he says.

While problems with building in the capital have been well-publicised over the past year, he says L&Q will “absolutely” continue to develop in London. But he admits that build costs are lower in Greater Manchester. “The market is more buoyant. It’s not to say there aren’t challenges – there are – but it’s more buoyant than London,” he explains.

The provider is seeking to focus on the two cities and move out of other regions; earlier this year, L&Q sold 3,500 of its homes in South Buckinghamshire to SettleParadigm, and Mr Lewis confirms more stock disposals are planned.

He insists the policy is as much about ensuring resident satisfaction and the quality of services as it is about the cost of providing services and travelling outside its main areas.

The English regulator handed L&Q a C2 grade under the consumer standards following an inspection last year, meaning it is compliant, but there is room to improve.

Home improvements

Mr Lewis says L&Q has not set a timescale to achieve a C1 rating, but stresses that the regulator acknowledged the landlord’s recent improvements to the repairs service. The question now is how the organisation can sustain these improvements and show more evidence for how services are adjusted for residents’ needs.

“The biggest thing I’d say about the inspection is there were no surprises,” he says. Before the regulator came to inspect L&Q, the housing association had carried out its self-assessment. Based on this, it predicted it would get the C2 grading.

“All of the areas that were flagged [by the regulator], we anticipated them and, of course, we’re now on that journey of improvement,” he says.

Other changes at the landlord are afoot, including the roll-out of a new housing management and finance system, which he says will help it become more “technologically robust”.

The landlord has been rolling out 20,000 sensors in properties it deems likely to suffer from damp and mould, and 1,500 wall-mounted and portable mould control devices by ArcAirTech.

“All of the areas that were flagged [by the regulator], we anticipated them and, of course, we’re now on that journey of improvement”

After the interview, L&Q confirms it will be monitoring developments on artificial intelligence (AI) as it understands the role the technology will play in the sector, but wants to learn from others’ experiences and understand what works well first. It is unclear how AI will shape the sector and how this could impact jobs, especially given the recruitment challenges housing faces already.

Mr Lewis says the sector needs more young people to join amid skill shortages in key areas such as building surveying, which is why the landlord has an apprenticeship programme for its trade operatives.

He has tried to persuade his three daughters to work in the housing sector. He says some of their views were shaped by negativity in the press and a view of the sector as uninteresting, despite his insistence that it is a diverse career and could provide a “fantastic foundation”.

While two now have careers in different fields, he is hopeful that his youngest, who is travelling in Australia, could be persuaded.

Mr Lewis’ own career eventually took him back to the estate in Woolwich where he had such a formative experience.

He and his family got the chance to move out because the blocks deteriorated and were later demolished, and “by some remarkable coincidence”, L&Q was involved in its regeneration, he says.

“I visited just by chance, didn’t recognise the address, got to site and realised that’s where I used to live! And we built some fantastic homes on that site,” he adds with pride.