Clarion Group formed as mega-merger completes

The new company ? which will have 125,000 units across 176 local authority areas under management ? was launched officially on Wednesday with plans to build 50,000 new homes across all tenure types over the next 10 years, of which two-thirds will be affordable. This is around 30,000 more homes than the planned output of the two individual groups.

Clarion has a combined turnover of ?827m, a surplus before tax of ?233m and existing assets worth ?20bn. Keith Exford, who was chief executive of Affinity Sutton, becomes group chief executive of Clarion, with Circle chief Mark Rogers acting as deputy chief executive.

The new organisation consists of a single housing association, a commercial development company ? called Latimer ? and a charitable foundation, which will invest ?150m in community work, such as apprenticeships and affordable loans for indebted residents.

The merger comes 18 months after Inside Housing exclusively revealed the two were in talks over a deal. It was approved in September by regulators at the Homes and Communities Agency.

In its launch announcement, Clarion said it would more than double the supply of new homes that the two former organisations could have built individually, without relying on any government subsidy. This will be overseen by Latimer.

Clarion said it would ?place a strong focus on providing locally responsive, reliable services to residents? through its regional structure.

Mr Exford said: ?We have created Clarion Housing Group in response to the acute need to deliver more affordable housing. We are significantly increasing our capacity to deliver the homes our country so desperately needs as well as our ability to transform lives.?

Sir Robin Young, chairman of Clarion Housing Group, said: ?By successfully combining forces and rising to the government?s challenge set to all housing associations to deliver more for less, Clarion Housing Group will help more people to prosper and take control of their own future.?