Boards approve business case to create 37,000-home association
Two housing associations will this Wednesday begin a six-week consultation with residents on plans to merge to create a 37,000-home housing association.
Longhurst Group, which owns or manages nearly 25,000 homes, is in talks with 12,000-home Grand Union Housing Group and both boards have approved a business case for a merger.
The organisations believe a merger will create more capacity to increase the amount they can invest in existing homes in addition to building 5,000 homes over the next five years.
Longhurst Group, which is based in Rushden, Northamptonshire, reported a turnover of £157.4m in 2022/23. It completed 578 homes and spent £13m on major improvements and repairs to homes. It has previously announced plans to build 2,776 homes over five years.
Grand Union Housing Group has its head office in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. It reported turnover of £92m in 2022/23 and completed 282 homes, while spending £26.2m on home improvements and repairs.
Aileen Evans, chief executive, Grand Union Housing Group, said: “Both ourselves and Longhurst Group are well governed and built on solid financial foundations and we believe that we’d be even stronger together as a larger organisation and have more resilience to respond to a challenging operating environment.
“We are exploring this from a position of strength, and this presents an exciting opportunity for both organisations to take proactive steps in ensuring we’re well placed for the future.
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“As one organisation, we could better realise our aims for the future; specifically, to speed up improvements in our homes, provide enhanced services and build more homes.”
Julie Doyle, chief executive of Longhurst Group, said: “We have a strong existing relationship with Grand Union Housing Group, with whom we share similar visions and values as well as our geographic footprints and growth aspirations.
“We feel that both organisations have complementing strengths as well as areas that can be further improved by coming together, which would give us the opportunity to learn from each other and, ultimately, deliver the best possible service for our customers.”
The resident consultation begins on Wednesday (24) and run until 4 September.
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