L&Q completes Trafford Housing Trust takeover

L&Q, one of the UK’s largest housing associations and developers, has completed the acquisition of Trafford Housing Trust in a deal that creates a group with more than 110,000 properties.

Larry Gold will become chief executive of THT, which will operate as a standalone subsidiary of L&Q, retaining its own brand, board and executive team. The business said that the £4bn deal, first announced in April, will facilitate £4bn investment in creating 20,000 homes in the North West.

The deal has grown out of a partnership dating back to August 2016, when the two groups first announced a joint venture. Two projects were announced in 2017, in Davyhulme, Trafford and close to Delamere Forest in Cheshire, with larger projects following.

One, a £47m, 250-home scheme is to be built in partnership with Willmott Dixon at a Homes England site in Preston, while in July Seddon Construction started a two-year build on a three-phase development in Skelmersdale, another ex-Homes England site. New build projects are taken forward under THT’s market housing brand Laurus Homes – at present, 13 developments are being marketed on Laurus’ website.

The partnership said that the deal will double THT’s social investment in the region with the establishment of a £4m North West Foundation. It added that the acquisition will enable THT to enhance its Quality Home Standard for 9,000 social homes across Greater Manchester, giving customers a better standard of living.

The terms of the acquisition agreement enable THT to retain and reinvest any profits made through new home sales into its own schemes and social programmes.

David Montague, chief executive of L&Q Group, said: “Together, L&Q and Trafford Housing Trust can do so much more to address the need for more affordable housing in the North West and to invest in local communities.”

Larry Gold, chief executive of THT, said: “Trafford Housing Trust has an outstanding reputation as a builder of communities. As a self-managed subsidiary of L&Q, we will be able to build more homes, improve more lives and invest in more communities at a vastly improved scale and pace.

“We will balance the need for new homes in our region with the on-going requirement and commitment to our customers to provide the best possible social housing.”