Paul Richmond will head Thrive Homes and Watford Community Housing if merger completes

Thrive Homes and Watford Community Housing (WCH) have appointed Paul Richmond as chief executive designate of a proposed new housing association born out of a merger of the pair.

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Source: Thrive Homes

Paul Richmond, chief executive designate of proposed merger between Thrive and WCH

Richmond is currently chief executive of Hertfordshire-based Thrive, joining from WCH last year, where he served as deputy chief executive.

He is a qualified accountant and was previously finance director for insurer AXA UK.

Thrive, which owns around 5,500-homes, and 7,500-home WCH recently approved an outline business case for the proposed merger.

>>See also: Hertfordshire housing associations enter merger talks

After more than 18 years as chief executive of Watford Community Housing, Tina Barnard has decided that she will step down from 1 June 2026 if the partnership goes ahead, but said it would be an “an opportunity to further strengthen our offering to our customers and communities.”

The two landlords also appointed Eastlight Homes chair Hattie Llewelyn-Davies as chair-designate of the potential new entity this month.

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