Hyde Housing Group and London & Quadrant Housing Trust are poised to sign a six-figure deal to take on the managment of an 11,000-home development in Kent.
The as yet unnamed joint venture will manage more than 2200 social homes and the public space not covered by the council in a deal the associations hope will be the first of many similar ones in the four growth areas. Hyde and L&Q are negotiating with developers Wimpey and Westbury Homes about funding for the company. It is understood the deal could be worth more than £100,000.

The 62 ha site on the western edge of Ashford will yield 11,000 homes, of which 20% will be social housing managed by Hyde and L&Q's joint venture. The site is part of the 33,000 homes planned for the area because it is one of the government's four key housing growth areas for the South-east.

Hyde is also understood to be negotiating with developers and landowners in the Thames Gateway – another of the four growth areas. And an L&Q spokeswoman said: "We are keen to be a major player in the Thames Gateway regeneration initiatives. We are exploring new ways of managing and working in partnership to achieve these goals. Joint management companies offer a way to do this."

Hyde and L&Q are the latest in a small group of associations to take on the management of completed developments rather than just the social housing element.

Genesis Housing Group and Family Housing Association have agreed to manage the redeveloped Wembley site in north London after winning the contract last week (HT 28 November, page 15).

Steve Coleman, director of development at Genesis, said: "I think it's the future. People want a coordinated management service run by one company and they want the best possible people to do the job, which is what housing associations are."

Ian Hagger, Hyde's assistant director of development for Kent, said: "It is unusual for associations to be doing this, but it shouldn't be, because we bring a unique selling point – management. There are a lot of developments coming up in the growth areas where hundreds if not thousands of units will be coming through in the same place at the same time. This is just taking our normal approach to managing and spreading it."

Source

Housing Today