Affordable housing bosses John Owen and David Faint expected to launch construction consultancy

Two senior directors at quoted contractor and housebuilder Galliford Try have quit the company’s social housing arm to set up their own business.

John Owen, managing director, and David Faint, an operations director, both resigned last week from Galliford Try Partnerships, the company’s affordable housing and community healthcare division.

It is understood that the two directors are in the process of setting up a niche business, although neither were available for comment this week. They have been put on gardening leave until the end of December.

Andy Sturgess, managing director of Galliford Try’s construction arm, confirmed that Owen and Faint had handed in their notice.

As head of Galliford Try Partnerships, Owen has been a key figure in the booming sector of social housing. If Owen and Faint set up a consultancy they could cash in on that growth market.

Sturgess said that Stuart Gibbons, another operations director at Galliford Try Partnerships, had been promoted to managing director, effective from Monday. Jason Lewis, Mick Laws, and Dave Allen have all been promoted to the position of operations director. Davinder Nandra will remain finance director within the Partnerships division.

Owen has been a key figure in the booming sector of social housing

“In my view, what we wanted to do was to make sure we had three operations directors to reflect the growth in that sector,” said Sturgess.

Galliford Try has already won £91m of affordable housing contracts since the start of the financial year on 1 July. The company has secured planning permission to build 173 residential units, including 59 homes for sale, at Bude, Cornwall. Galliford Try, through its subsidiary Midas Homes, is working in partnership with North Cornwall council, the Westcountry Housing Association and the Guinness Trust.

It is also working with the Toynbee Housing Association and the Devon and Cornwall Housing Association, with which it has completed a 105-unit mixed-use scheme at Maryland Point, east London.

Commenting on these successes, David Calverley, Galliford Try’s chief executive said: “Affordable housing is one of the key markets for the group and we are benefiting from the growing level of expenditure in the sector.”