Reaping the rewards

What are your goals as managing director at Pennington?

Pennington is going through an exciting period of growth and has just acquired two companies; Manchester-based quantity surveyor W Musker and Partners, and a gas company called WNP Services. It’s part of my responsibility to integrate these companies into Pennington and ensure the quality of the services that are provided. I’ll also be concentrating on developing our interim management business – demand for this service is most definitely growing in the sector.

What’s your long-term vision for Pennington and how does it relate to recent developments in the social housing sector?

We intend to expand more into property services and help housing providers through the technicalities of achieving the decent homes standard. On the housing side, we want to develop more services to help private companies to work in partnership with social housing providers. For example, tenant consultation is now an essential part of housing management and a requirement of the Audit Commission. We’re aiming to offer more help to companies, especially private companies with little experience in the field, to consult with tenants.

Private companies are now able to bid for Housing Corporation funds, what impact do you think this could have on the social housing sector?

We’ll see the number of collaborations between the private and public sector continue to increase as private developers look to form partnerships with registered social landlords.

I think this will benefit the sector as it brings together the skills of the private sector and the values of the public sector. It’s fair to say that some private developers are developing a more tenant-focused approach to their work, but for these partnerships to really work, there will have to be a strong, consistent focus on producing quality products and services.

What are some of the most important changes you have seen in the social housing sector during your career?

Well, I have seen a lot change over the last 20 years, but I’d say the biggest change in the last few years was the Audit Commission becoming involved in the sector in Spring of 2003. The inspection powers of the AC have led to a stronger focus on performance in the sector. Also, the introduction of private borrowing for registered social landlords in 1998 vastly extended the sector’s resources to improve, and then the government’s decent homes standard introduced in 2000 again focused attention on quality issues.

Why did you choose a career in housing?

I fell into the sector by accident. I left school at 19 and noticed an ad in the paper for a job with a housing association offering college courses in housing management. So, I went for it and I haven’t looked back. I’ve enjoyed a career that gives you a strong sense of reward because you can see the results of your efforts, for instance, seeing a run-down estate begin to improve. And I’ve always been supported by my employers in whatever I wanted to do – I’ve trained as a quantity surveyor and have a post grad in facilities management. In fact, I’ve studied throughout my career. So all round, I’ve no complaints.

What would you say has been your career high?

Besides this promotion, the day when I and the team working for Kensington Regeneration (Liverpool’s communities’ pathfinder project) found out we had been awarded £65m in government funding.

It was fantastic and meant we had the resources to help turn around a very run-down part of the city.