New housing association officially launches following merger
Beyond Housing, the new organisation following the merger of Coast & Country Housing and Yorkshire Coast Homes, has officially launched along with the appointment of its new chief executive.
Rosemary Du Rose becomes Beyond Housing’s first chief executive.
She joins from Home Group where, as executive director of operations, she was responsible for the delivery of services to leasehold, rented and supported customers in 55,000 homes and led a team of over 2,000 colleagues across the UK.
Prior to joining Home Group in 2009, Du Rose’s career had centred on the retail, telecoms and insurance sectors, including senior roles at O2 and Legal & General.
She will take up her new position early in the new year and Owen Ingram, currently Interim chief executive at Yorkshire Coast Homes, will act as Interim CEO of Beyond Housing.
Beyond Housing serves customers in more than 15,000 homes across the north east and North Yorkshire.
The combined organisation has plans to build more new homes than either of the previous organisations would individually have been able to; increase focus on regeneration with plans to address issues in some of its most deprived communities; and invest £150m in the first five years to ensure existing homes remain safe and secure
Beyond Homes also plans to meet the challenges of the ageing population in the north east and Yorkshire by providing a combined Independent and Supported Living service to over 8,000 people.
James Hayward, chair of shadow board for Beyond Housing, said: “The journey for Coast & Country and Yorkshire Coast Homes started back in early 2017. Our initial exploratory conversations captured a bold vision of a new organisation which would truly go beyond what either organisation could achieve individually and make it a new housing force in the region.
“Our customers sit at the heart of this and will continue to be the focus of everything we do and our name, Beyond Housing, perfectly reflects the ethos of the new organisation. Customers will not see any material change to their day to day interaction, other than they are now customers of Beyond Housing rather than the previous organisations.
“I’d like to warmly welcome Rosemary as the chief executive. Her vision for what Beyond Housing can become and her passion for driving the business for the benefit of customers comes through strongly.
“She is keen to give the organisation a strong voice in the region and nationally and I believe she will lead Beyond Housing from strength to strength.”
Rosemary Du Rose, chief executive of Beyond Housing, added: “I am very proud to be the first chief executive of Beyond Housing, an organisation which has all the elements for a very bright future.
“I’m sure there will be some challenges as the two organisations integrate, but both have fantastic teams and a very similar ethos to my own of putting the customer at the heart of everything. It’s a really exciting time and I am really looking forward to the new year and the new role”.
