Peaks & Plains appoints chief executive

The housing trust has made Mark Howden permanent chief executive after he stepped into the role on an interim basis following the departure of Tim Pinder last November after almost 14 years in the role. 

Pinder stepped down following the company’s decision to refer itself to the Regulator of Social Housing after an internal review identified a range of health and safety issues at its buildings. 

In March, the regulator found Peaks & Plains to be non-compliant with governance standards. 

Since then, Howden has worked with the regulator to develop and implement a recovery action plan for the trust, “to rebuild the standards it is better known for”, the company said. 

When he took on the role as interim chief executive, Howden had only been with the Macclesfield-based company for six months, having been hired initially as director of place. 

Before joining Peaks & Plains, Howden had spent the previous 11 years at Balfour Beatty, initially as head of regeneration for the company’s investment arm, and latterly as head of residential. 

Howden said: “When I joined the trust in 2019, I couldn’t have predicted the journey that lay ahead. Over the last 12 months, we have made transformational changes and overcome many adversities, and I believe we are a stronger organisation as a result.” 

Peaks & Plains owns around 5,000 homes across Cheshire and Derbyshire.

It is working on several projects, including a scheme to build 67 apartments on a site near Macclesfield town centre, formerly home to a Georgian mill, after buying the site from PH Homes in 2017. 

In May, Peaks & Plains appointed Jane McCall, a former director of neighbourhoods at Trafford Housing Trust, as its chair. 

McCall replaced John Hudson, who stood down earlier that month.