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Large London housing association L&Q has appointed its group development director Fiona Fletcher-Smith as the person to replace David Montague as its new chief executive.
The 105,000-home landlord confirmed the Ms Fletcher-Smith’s promotion in a statement to the stock market this morning. Ms Fletcher-Smith joined L&Q back in April 2018 as its group director of development and sales after a period as executive director of development, enterprise and environment at the Greater London Authority.
She replaces Mr Montague, who will officially leave the association at the end of the financial year, with immediate effect.
Mr Montague exits after 33 years with L&Q and 12 years as the group’s chief executive. He announced he would be leaving the association to pursue new challenges last September.
During her time at L&Q, Ms Fletcher-Smith has been a key figure in the growth of L&Q’s development plans. She has led on on L&Q’s 10,800-home Barking Riverside joint venture with the Greater London Authority and a partnership with Sadiq Khan to deliver 20,000 new homes across the capital. She also oversaw L&Q’s expansion outside the South East, with over 1,400 homes now under construction in the Midlands, and a further 20,000 planned for the North West following the 2019 acquisition of Trafford Housing Trust.
Aubrey Adams, chair at L&Q, said: “The L&Q group board is delighted to welcome Fiona into the role of chief executive. As well as her deep knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing L&Q, she brings with her a wealth of experience from a career dedicated to housing.
“As well as her exemplary pedigree in senior housing and infrastructure roles, Fiona also began her career as a housing officer, where she learned a deep understanding and empathy for social housing residents. This is evident in her ambitions to put the people that live in our homes firmly at the centre of everything we do.”
Ms Fletcher-Smith said: “It is a great privilege to be chosen to lead L&Q, building on the incredible work that has been achieved under David’s leadership.
"L&Q provides a home for 250,000 people. As I open a new chapter in our history, I am absolutely clear that these people must come first. We need to listen to our customers and work with them to ensure that homes are safe, high quality and supported by excellent services and thriving communities. That will be the primary focus of our new five-year plan, and I will be working tirelessly to drive this and ensure our culture is ethical, responsive, creative, inclusive and puts customers first.
"We have no intention of stopping building homes - they are core to our social mission. Our ambition to enable the creation of 100,000 homes remains - but the pace of delivery will ease in the short term. In the meantime, I want us to focus on building high quality, beautiful places and safe homes across our committed pipeline."
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