South-west housing association hires former UCL boss

Plymouth Community Homes, the largest social housing provider in Plymouth, has appointed Tracy Smith as its new executive director of homes and communities.

Formerly the director of campus experience and commercial services at UCL, Smith will take up her new position at PCH in March.

At PCH, Smith will lead the directorates responsible for managing the organisation’s 16,000 homes, overseeing teams in housing and tenancy management, community services, resident engagement, repairs, compliance, asset management and delivery, commercial premises and leasehold properties.

She will join Nick Jackson, executive director of business services and development, and Gill Martin, executive director of corporate services, to complete the executive management team at PCH.

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PCH owns 16,000 homes in Plymouth and the surrounding areas, and also manages commercial properties, including 170 shops.

Smith has 20 years’ experience of working in senior leadership and management roles with a customer and asset focus.

In her role at UCL, Smith oversaw services across the university’s estate including security, commercial services and estate management.

Tracy’s prior experience includes serving as a consultant for the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the estate and facilities departments.

She has also worked as the director of traded services for the University of Surrey and as a residential services manager for Queen Mary, University of London.

Smith has held voluntary roles as a board member for several organisations, including housing associations, since 2020.

Smith said: “I’ve spent my career creating and delivering customer-focused services which actively support local communities, so I understand the importance of providing safe, affordable, high-quality homes for people who need them – and of enabling the services PCH provides to accurately reflect the needs of the local community.

“Organisations like PCH face challenges from increasing regulation to ensure housing associations are providing safe properties for residents, alongside growing oversight from the Regulator to make sure social housing providers are delivering services which are truly customer-focused.

“My experience of managing housing for leading universities, which is a highly regulated and customer focused sector, will enable me to continue to develop the excellent customer-focused services for PCH’s residents, and to enhance and improve the properties and the services the organisation provides.”

Jonathan Cowie, Chief Executive of Plymouth Community Homes, said: “We’re thrilled to have recruited Tracy Smith to join PCH as our new Executive Director of Homes and Communities and help us to drive forward work to improve the services we deliver for local people.

“Tracy has significant, transferable skills from her two decades of working in senior leadership roles, primarily for leading UK universities in managing their estate portfolios, and I am confident she will add great value to the organisation for the benefit of our residents and local people.”