Wates snaps up 1,100-strong social housing maintenance business

Wates has bought a property services business from a social housing firm for an undisclosed sum.

The 1,100-strong Liberty was part of Greater Manchester-based ForHousing and specialises in domestic property repair and maintenance, as well as heating and compliance.

The move takes the number of people employed at Wates to more than 6,000 with the business being moved into Wates’ property services run by executive managing director David Morgan.

Wates said Liberty will continue to trade under its own name while the number of people employed at Wates’ property arm will rise to around 3,000.

Morgan said: “We’ve been actively seeking a specialist property support business to expand and strengthen our existing expertise in the social housing sector, and extend our range of services into the areas of heating and compliance, as well as renewable energy services. In Liberty, we’ve found the strategic fit we were looking for, so I’m delighted to be able to make this announcement.”

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Liberty operates across the North-west, North-east and South-west of England. It is headquartered in Knowsley, Merseyside, and has five other core centres of operation – Manchester, Leeds, Portsmouth, Havant and Cardiff.

ForHousing owns and manages 24,000 homes across the North-west.