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National house builder launches housing association division
One of the UK’s largest house builders has unveiled plans for a new division aimed at partnering with housing associations.
A national house builder has unveiled plans this morning to launch a new business aimed at working with HAs #ukhousingA £1bn-turnover house builder is to start a new housing association partnerships business and has already identified six sites it wants partners for #ukhousingBovis Homes will launch its Partnership Housing Division later this year, with the company seeking to secure housing association partners to develop land led schemes.
Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Bovis, said the Partnership Housing Division would be the company’s biggest area of growth in the coming years, with the house builder already in discussions with associations over potential tie-ups.
The news of the partnerships plan came as the house builder posted a record profit of £168.1m for the year ending 31 December 2018, up 47% from last year’s figure of £114m.
Keith Carnegie, executive director at Bovis, will be the chief executive for the new partnerships arm.
The company has already identified six sites from its strategic land bank in North Whiteley, Exeter and Taunton as suitable for partnership development.
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In the past 18 months Bovis has signed a number of joint venture agreements with housing associations to develop sites across the UK.
It is currently working on sites in Wokingham and Boorley Green with LiveWest, while last year it signed an agreement with Clarion to develop the 1,500-home development in Sherford, Devon.
Speaking at an analyst presentation this morning, Mr Fitzgerald said that the Partnerships Division would aim to work with a whole spectrum of associations and had begun discussions with several already.
He said the decision was driven by the company’s improved relationships with the sector, but also the attractiveness of working with associations.
“There is a huge availability of funding from the housing association sector and [the partnership business] provides additional less cyclical revenue, and it is a much safer area to be in,” he said.
The move comes just a month after fellow house builder Crest Nicholson said that it would target Homes England’s strategic partners to partner with on certain schemes.
The Bovis Partnership Division will only partner with housing associations on land-led schemes, and would initially start by using its own strategic land bank but would look to partner on housing association plots “when trust builds”.
The house builder, which has traditionally shied away from building flats and apartment blocks, has said that the new business could move into that area.
In addition to the increase in profit, Bovis saw the number of homes it completed increase from 3,645 last year to 3,759 this year.
The number of affordable homes completed was 1,192 homes, representing 32% of all completions.
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