Boss completes year-old mission
DEBORAH McLaughlin is returning to lead the North West team at the Homes and Communities Agency after completing her secondment as chief executive of Manchester Place.
She was drafted in for 12 months to set up and drive the organisation, a partnership between the HCA and Manchester City Council, and establish new ways of working to accelerate housing delivery across the city.
McLaughlin will now co-chair the Manchester Place board alongside City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein.
She said: “In a short space of time we have firmly established Manchester Place’s profile in the market and accelerated delivery of new and stalled housing schemes. We have made a strong start and attracted significant investment into residential development.”
Since it was formed the partnership has succeeded in accelerating the pipeline of new housing from under 1,000 starts a year to almost 4,000. There are currently 16 sites in the city centre delivering 2,303 new homes.
The developers of major new residential schemes at Little Peter Street and Angel Meadow are also expected to be announced next month.
Planning frameworks have been put in place for the growth areas in the city of Southern Gateway and emerging area of New Cross to assist landowners and developers understand the city’s aspirations for place making and quality.
Developers have also been supported to access the £300m GM Housing Fund with £66.3m already loaned to unlock more than 1,000 new homes.
It has attracted significant interest from national and international investors from the Far East and North America and continues to operate on a global stage.
She said: “As co-chair of the board I will continue to oversee the work of the team having established a new model for increasing the supply of high quality new housing and creating great new places to live.
“Promoting Manchester Place opportunities on an international stage has given me clear insight into investor requirements and I am confident that using this knowledge and expertise will help deliver inward investment to other parts of the North West.
“Going back to the HCA at this time is exciting with significant new funding and new programmes announced in the spending review. I will be working with the teams to turn these announcements into delivery on the ground across the whole region.”
Sir Howard Bernstein said: “Deborah’s leadership of Manchester Place has been outstanding and I am delighted she will continue to play a vital role as co-chair as we drive forward investment in new housing and neighbourhoods.”
