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Wheatley chief executive to step down
The chief executive of Scotland’s largest social landlord has announced his intention to step down.
Martin Armstrong will leave Wheatley Group next summer after 13 years at the organisation.
He had intended to step down last year but stayed on at the board’s request to lead the organisation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wheatley is one of the largest housing associations in the UK as it owns and manages more than 93,700 homes across Scotland.
It has built more social rented homes than any other organisation in the UK for the past four years running, according to Inside Housing’s annual Biggest Builders survey.
The search for a new chief executive will begin next month, with Wheatley expecting the process to take up to a year. Mr Armstrong will stay on to oversee the transition.
He joined one of the group’s precursor organisations, Glasgow Housing Association (GHA), as executive director of housing and customer services in 2008, having previously worked at West Lothian Council.
He was appointed chief executive of GHA the following year and oversaw the creation of Wheatley Group in August 2011.
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During Mr Armstrong’s time at Wheatley, the landlord issued its first bond on the capital markets and went on to raise over £1bn of public and private investment.
In December 2019, it merged with 10,000-home Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership.
Mr Armstrong said: “It has been an amazing journey. I am proud of the dedication, commitment and passion of the staff, board and committee members – past and present – who have worked hard to make Wheatley such a fantastic force for good in Scotland.”
He added: “John Wheatley, a Glasgow MP and minister for health in Ramsay MacDonald’s government in the 1920s, campaigned ferociously to improve the lives and futures of ordinary men, women and children.
“Everyone at Wheatley Group has striven over the past decade to protect and live up to his legacy as the grandfather of social housing.”
Alastair MacNish, chair of Wheatley, said of Mr Armstrong: “I can think of few other business leaders in the UK who have led with such distinction, integrity and commitment to excellence.”
Wheatley employs 2,000 people and has an annual turnover of more than £357m.
Through its subsidiaries, the organisation provides care services to more 3,000 people and owns Scotland’s largest private-rent property company.
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