Legal merger expected in October
Housing associations Settle and Paradigm have agreed to merge to create a combined 30,000-home landlord.
The pair announced in March that they had entered negotiations and in April that they had approved an initial business case and put forward designate appointments for the board and executive.
In a note to market this morning, the pair confirmed that both boards had agreed to proceed in creating a new organisation, which would initially be known as SettleParadigm.
The new group will become the largest housing association in the region in which it operates, which covers Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
Paradigm currently operates almost 17,000 homes, while Settle has more than 10,000.
Completion of the legal merger is targeted for October this year.
The agreement follows a six-week consultation with residents of both organisations. More than 2,600 residents responded, with around 80% feeling positive or neutral about the proposals.
Richard Moriarty, chair of Paradigm and designate chair of the new organisation, said: “I’m excited about the potential of the new organisation and its ability to deliver for all our residents.
“The feedback we received through the resident consultation was immensely valuable and will help the combined organisation to lead the way when it comes to customer service and property management.”
In March, Paradigm also announced it was looking to buy 3,500 homes in South Buckinghamshire from L&Q. Today’s note to market confirmed these were at an “advanced stage”.
Matthew Bailes, Paradigm chief executive and designate chief executive of SettleParadigm, said: “Everything we do is about providing high quality homes, great services to our residents, neighbourhoods we are proud of and building as many new high quality affordable homes as we can.
“The partnership between Settle and Paradigm, and the potential addition of 3,500 homes in our core area, means that the new organisation will be large enough to take on the most difficult challenges, whilst remaining genuinely local.
“We have an exciting future, building from the best in both organisations.”
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