Henry Pitman, the new owner of Hacas Chapman Hendy, has revealed a bold new direction for the housing consultant.
Pitman's Tribal Group completed the £45.1m takeover of the consultant after a shareholders' vote last Friday.

The Tribal Group founder and chief executive now plans to grow Hacas in line with the predicted needs of housing associations as they diversify towards providing non-housing facilities.

Speaking on Tuesday after the first joint meeting of Tribal's public sector consulting arms, Pitman and Hacas managing director Derek Joseph outlined where they want the business to be in the next five years.

Joseph said: "As housing associations start to provide surgeries, classrooms for universities and all the other things they've started to do then we'll move that way. So next year it may only be 5-10%, but in five years' time maybe a third of our clients' work will actually be in these things."

He cited the Thames Gateway as an example. "I think the contracts you're getting in the Gateway will actually be for the construction of pretty much small towns, and they're going to look for people to be able to do school PFIs and other things, as well as housing."

Pitman said: "It's important for us to diversify our range of services – adding extra value to our customers. Although we're clearly not going to be able to force-feed any of our services to any clients, we are able to offer a more extensive range of services, skills and clients."

Tribal Group, which had revenues of £106m last year, up 131% on the previous year, has bought more than 30 companies in its four-year existence.

We’re not going to be able to force-feed any of our services to clients, but we are able to offer a more extensive range of services

Henry Pitman, Tribal Group

Pitman has refused to rule out further acquisitions in the housing arena and has also stated his ambition to build Hacas' regeneration business.

Hacas' regeneration arm Stratford Development Partners currently has little business outside London and the South-east.

Pitman added: "Regeneration is something that's touched on and close to nearly all our businesses and we believe there is an opportunity to create a national regeneration business.

"That's something we intend to actively pursue."

Pitman's background is in vocational training – his family firm JHP set up the company that runs the written driving test. However, the family fortune dates back to his great-grandfather Sir Isaac Pitman, who invented Pitman shorthand in 1837.

Source

Housing Today