Housing boss named as honorary professor at Bartlett

Paul Hackett, chief executive of housing association Optivo, has been appointed honorary professor at the UCL Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management.

And in another move Hackett (pictured), who also chairs the G15, a group of leading London housing associations, has been appointed to the RICS housing supply group.

Professor D’Maris Coffman, head of the UCL Bartlett School, said that with the UK in the grips of the worst housing crisis in a generation, it was the right time to recruit a housing expert to the school.

Hackett will also serve on the school’s independent advisory board.

And RICS’ UK residential associate director Mike Basquill said Hackett’s appointment to the institution’s housing supply group was “a welcome opportunity to build closer links with the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management as they partner with industry and government to transform UK construction”.

Last October Hackett called on the government to triple the proposed £2bn of annual government funding through to 2029, which is designed to help housing associations build more affordable housing.

In an interview with Building in October he said the sector would need “well over £6bn a year to get anywhere near the number of affordable homes that are required”.