L&G Affordable Homes hires former Heylo exec as FD

Legal & General Affordable Homes (LGAH) has appointed Chris Hewitt as its new financial director as it pursues rapid growth.

The for-profit provider, which is aiming to treble its turnover from £250m to £775m by 2025, has hired Hewitt to replace Georgina Scott as permanent financial director. Scott left LGAH last summer to become the financial director at Earls Court Development Company, a joint venture between Transport for London and Delancey. 

Hewitt, who previously served for more than six years as chief financial officer at for-profit provider Heylo Housing, will be tasked with leading the development of LGAH’s corporate structure as it expands.

The move follows LGAH last year setting up four new for-profit provider arms to diversify its funding streams.

LGAH is looking to have increased its completions from around 1,000 to 3,000 by 2025 and wants to increase its annual operating profit from £30m to £100m over the same period. Its current pipeline stands at around 7,000 homes.

Ben Denton, chief executive at LGAH, said: “Chris’s appointment will support the continued growth of the business and demonstrates our commitment to deploying institutional capital at scale into this sector, to deliver the volumes of affordable housing which society desperately needs.”

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Hewitt said: “Institutional capital has a major role to play in delivering the volumes of affordable housing society needs and there are tremendous opportunities for LGAH to scale in the years ahead

LGAH typically buys affordable rented and shared ownership homes in new developments via section 106 planning agreements and then retains ownership, with its stock managed by its 14 management partners, largely housing associations.

However in November, chief executive Ben Denton said LGAH was looking to directly build a greater proportion of homes itself, including through its sister company L&G Modular Homes.