You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
L&Q appoints director of maintenance to drive repairs improvements
L&Q has appointed a new director of maintenance via a secondment from its North West subsidiary Trafford Housing Trust (THT).
Iain Wallace will head the 105,000-home landlord’s repairs service for 18 months to lead on implementing an improvement plan.
He was previously director of property services at THT, which owns 9,000 homes and was acquired by L&Q in 2019.
His new role, which commenced on 7 June, focuses on addressing the backlog of works created by the coronavirus pandemic, with L&Q prioritising its existing homes, the organisation said in a statement.
L&Q recently scaled back its ambitions to develop 100,000 homes over 10 years because of escalating fire safety costs.
It has also faced criticism over its repairs and maintenance performance, and recently apologised after an ITV investigation revealed that it had failed to deal with damp and mould complaints from a resident with a serious health condition.
READ MORE
Mr Wallace arrived at THT in June 2017 – the month of the Grenfell fire and led the organisation’s response to the disaster.
His department was the first in the country to set up a building safety team and to implement a building safety manager role.
L&Q said that THT’s repairs service enjoyed a 99.9% customer satisfaction rating during his tenure.
Before joining THT, Mr Wallace worked at other Northern housing associations including Together Housing, Muir Group and Irwell Valley Homes.
He said he was “delighted” to be taking on his new role at L&Q.
“The team is made up of fantastic people doing brilliant work, which I look forward to building on,” Mr Wallace said.
“Everybody deserves a quality home and our team will stop at nothing to ensure this is achieved for our residents.”
Gerri Scott, group director of customer services at L&Q, said the association was “absolutely thrilled” to be welcoming Mr Wallace.
She added: “Our existing homes are our number one priority at L&Q, and Iain’s experience and expertise will be an asset for us in our mission to provide homes and neighbourhoods that everyone can be proud of.”
Sign up for our asset management newsletter
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters
