Tilia appoints former Persimmon and Linden exec as MD

Tilia Homes has hired housing industry ‘heavyweight’ Andrew Hammond as its new divisional managing director.

The developer, previously known as Kier Living before its acquisition by private equity firm Terra Firma last year, said the new role been created to support its growth plans.

Hammond will initially take on duties from Mike Coker, who is standing down as chief operating officer, and will effectively serve as number two to new chief executive Nigel Greenaway. Longer term, he is expected to manage a division within Tilia focusing on growth.

Hammond previously served as divisional chairman of Linden Homes, and for 10 months as chief executive, before Linden was bought from Galliford Try by Bovis in January 2020. He then continued as divisional chairman in the re-branded Vistry Group post-acquisition for a further eight months.

He also worked at Persimmon Homes in a variety of roles for more than 13 years in total. Most recently he served as regional chairman and before that managing director of the housebuilder’s Thames Valley regional arm.

Tilia Homes described Hammond as an industry “heavyweight” who helped Persimmon grow its development from 3,000 to 18,000 homes a year.

Nigel Greenaway, Tilia Homes’ chief executive, said Hammond’s key priorities will be “to work with our wider senior management team to introduce operational efficiencies, open up new geographical areas, review our current housetype range and ensure we deliver a five-star customer service.”

Tilia, in the year to June 2021, built 1,450 homes across its central, eastern, northern and western regions. It wants to grow but is not currently revealing the scale of its ambition until its plans are finalised.

Greenaway, another former Persimmon executive, was appointed in December after previous chief executive David Bridges stood down to “explore new opportunities.”

The news comes days after Terra Firma, which was founded by billionaire investor Guy Hands and is now one of Europe’s largest private equity firms, announced the acquisition of Hopkin Homes.