Housebuilding should be “start of long term relationship” - Anderson

Allison Partnerships

Housebuilding should not be seen as transactional but the start of a long term relationship, according to John Anderson, group chief executive of Allison Homes.

Speaking to Housebuilder about Allison Homes’ new Partnerships arm, Anderson said that the firm was building a business “that will span generations”. This would be bolstered by its new division dedicated to working with housing providers and others to accelerate its delivery of private, rented and affordable homes.

On the new division, that launched in March, Anderson stated: “Housebuilding shouldn’t be seen as being simply transactional but the start of a long term relationship. Housebuilders typically acquire a site, build homes, sell them and then disappear.

“We should be focused on building a business for the long term based on delivering to our promises and being there for the long term, working to improve communities and the wider environment.”

Allison Homes’ “cornerstone”, Anderson said, was building relationships with communities, home buyers and local stakeholders.

Demonstrating this and the company’s long term commitments, Anderson also gave details of the new division’s Partnership Charitable Scheme, which will donate £100 to a local charity for each house contracted through a partnership scheme.

He said: “Engaging and supporting local charities in the community in which we work is a critical part of Allison Homes’ long term plan to be known as a trusted partner and developer of choice.”

Working with its partners, Allison Partnerships intends to select one or more local charities “to ensure our work contributes positively for the long term, well beyond the completion of the development”.

Anderson also highlighted the social value aspect of housebuilding that its charitable scheme would help foster. “This is about building relationships with communities, working with them to effectively help them build their own communities.”

The housebuilder’s ambition is to produce at least 500 homes each year in partnership across its regions of the South West, eastern and central England, contributing to the company’s target of more than 2,000 new homes per year by 2027. These partnership homes are likely to be in a “typical mix” of equal shared ownership and affordable rent.

Allison Homes established its Partnerships business because of the industry’s moral responsibility to build all tenures of home, Anderson explained - from private open market sale through to affordable housing. “The public and social good to build more houses is an obligation we should shoulder.”

And the mini-Budget of last September, he added, had “accelerated” the housebuilder’s ambition to build a sustainable, balanced, counter-cyclical home building business. Half of what the firm plans to build over the next five years will be affordable.

Anderson referred to the stability that partnerships housebuilding brings. “The huge upfront investment necessary to build the new homes our country needs requires certainty. Our commitment to building in partnership provides that certainty.”

He also stressed the importance of trust in ensuring a successful partnership, stating: “Trust is fundamental. You can do more together than individually. If you have the same drivers, you can be bulletproof.”

Allison Partnerships’ first scheme will be delivered at the housebuilder’s Manning Road development in Bourne, Lincolnshire, in partnership with housing group Longhurst Group. Three local charities – Butterfield Centre, Toolbar and Don’t Lose Hope - will receive donations through the Partnership Charitable Scheme.

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