Stephen Kinsella isn’t your traditional public servant. That’s clear from his Twitter feed, where he recently posted a photo of a particularly dull standard housetype that was captioned: “This hurts my eyes”. He talks straight, fast and with passion, using the vocabulary of the developer he was until some 20 months ago. That was when Kinsella swapped life as growth and partnerships director at Barratt Developments for the job of executive director for land at Homes England, where he also leads on the agency’s programme promoting offsite construction.

Homes England cast off its old Homes and Communities Agency name just over a year ago, marking its move from government social housing regulator and grant distributor to a more market facing agency. It is focused on translating government policy into action, driving the delivery of homes of varied tenures in areas of the country where they are most needed. It is aiming to make development happen by tackling the risks and barriers that have long held back sites and businesses, and working in new and different ways with players from across the industry.