Genesis Housing Association

Genesis
Housing Association
Focus Social housing
Key people
Dipesh Shah OBE, Chair
Neil Hadden, CEO
Revenue
£276 million (2011)[1]
Employees
over 1,500[1]
Website www.genesisha.org.uk

Genesis Housing Association, known until May 2011 as Genesis Housing Group Ltd, is one of the largest developer housing associations in London. It was formed through the amalgamation of Paddington Churches Housing Association, Pathmeads and Springboard housing associations.[2][3] In 2017 they announced they will be merging with Notting Hill Housing, with the merger to be formalised in early 2018.[4]

Background

Genesis Housing Association manages around 33,000 homes across London and the south east, providing services to tens of thousands of people. It was formed by a merger in May 2011 of PCHA, Pathmeads and Springboard housing associations. They had for some years been managed as a corporate group, Genesis Housing Group. The group also includes Genesis Community, a charitable foundation, and Genesishomes which provides shared ownership properties.[5]

PCHA was founded over 40 years earlier as Paddington Churches Housing Association, and managed more than 11,500 homes.[6]

Pathmeads was formed in 2001 as a rescue vehicle for West Hampstead Housing Association, which had overextended its temporary housing operation.[7][8] In 2011 it had over 21,000 managed homes.[6]

Springboard provided management services to around 6,000 homes and another rescued association, St Matthew Housing.[8] Eastwards Trust was also a subsidiary of Springboard.[6]

Management

Neil Hadden was appointed as Chief Executive in 2009. He succeeded Mr Anu Vedi CBE, who had led the group for ten years, through its growth from 10,000 to over 38,000 homes.[9]

The current Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Dipesh Shah OBE, who has had a diverse executive career in the energy sector.[1] He replaced Charles Gurassa in 2017.[10]

Properties managed

As of 2016, stock owned and managed totals 32,139. The highest proportions of stock are based in the London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Camden and the City of Westminster.[11]

Current developments

Genesis owns a 3.4 hectares (8.4 acres) site in Chelmsford, Essex, formerly the Central Campus of Anglia Ruskin University. The group purchased it from Countryside Properties in 2007.[12] The developer had obtained planning permission for 700 homes in 2003. Genesis prepared a revised plan in 2011 for about 600 homes, along with new shops and offices. Some of the old buildings are to be retained including Anne Knight House, the 1823 listed former Quaker meeting house.[13][14]

Genesis is working with Hackney Borough Council on the redevelopment of Woodberry Down, one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the UK.[15]

Genesis is the lead housing association developer on Grahame Park, a large-scale regeneration project in Colindale, North-West London, in partnership with Barnet London Borough Council and Countryside Properties. The scheme is one of the largest self-funded projects in Europe and will see the construction of around 3000 new homes, as well as shops, gardens, community and health facilities, new parks, and a civic hub.[16]

In December 2016, it was confirmed that Genesis will be a partner on the Oaklands development, the first major scheme to be delivered as part of the regeneration of Old Oak Common in London. They will be delivering a £175m mixed-use residential development of over 600 homes, working with Queens Park Rangers football club.[17]

Finances

From 2005 to 2007, Genesis spent £200 million on its land bank for new developments. As the late-2000s financial crisis developed, Genesis wrote off around £6 million from asset values in its balance sheet each year from 2008 to 2010, but in 2011 this entry in its accounts increased to £20 million – a third of the total impairment booked by all housing associations in the year.[18]

Genesis strengthened its financial position by raising its first own-name bond issue for £200 million in 2010.[19] It rationalised its asset holdings, selling its 40% interest in a portfolio of 1,650 properties in central London to Grainger plc for £15m in 2011.[20]

In August 2015 Genesis controversially announced that it would no longer be building homes for social rent and would now bring the rents of its existing stock into line with affordable and market rental rates as they become vacant.[21]

Awards

Genesis won the top prize for social housing at the Daily Telegraph British Homes Awards 2011 for the first phase of new homes at Woodberry Down.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Annual Review 2011
  2. Brown, Carl. (2011-05-05) Inside Housing, Genesis Housing merges subsidiaries, 5 May 2011. Insidehousing.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-25.
  3. Genesis merges subsidiaries to create single housing association, 24dash.com, 5 May 2011
  4. "http://www.genesisha.org.uk/genesis_housing_association/press_releases/press_releases/merger_agreed_in_principle.aspx.article". Genesis Housing Association. External link in |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. About Genesishomes. Genesishomes.org.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-25.
  6. 1 2 3 Genesis Housing Group about us. Genesisha.org.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-25.
  7. West Hampstead accumulates £11.5m deficit, Inside Housing, 26 September 2002
  8. 1 2 New regulatory era could see big fish go hungry, Inside Housing, 22 August 2008
  9. Genesis appoints new Group Chief Executive, HousingNet News, 18 August 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  10. Genesis appoints former energy chief as new chair, Inside Housing, 18 January 2017
  11. . Genesis Housing Association. Retrieved on 2016-01-09.
  12. Genesis acquires biggest ever site in just six weeks, HousingNet News, 4 October 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  13. Central Campus Redevelopment, Chelmsford Borough Council. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  14. Central Chelmsford Consultation Archived 23 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
  15. 1 2 Genesis scoops top social housing prize at Daily Telegraph awards, 29 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  16. Genesis regeneration, Genesis Housing Association, June 2015. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  17. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan approves plans for QPR to build new homes in Harlesden, Brent & Kilburn Times, August 2016. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
  18. Genesis land values plummet by £20.7m, Inside Housing, 30 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  19. Financial Statements 2010, page 8
  20. Property group's profits rise by nearly a quarter, The Journal. Retrieved 20 May 2011
  21. Murtha, Tom (August 7, 2015). "The housing association that will no longer build homes for the poor". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2017.

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