Livingstone takes on fresh role at Onward

Sandy Livingstone has been appointed executive director of growth at the social housing association, a role that he hopes will enable the group to deliver 6,000 much-needed affordable homes over the next 10 years.

Livingstone had previously been the executive director of property at Onward Homes. The role incorporated asset management, maintenance, building safety as well as crafting growth strategies. His new post enables him to fully focus on paving the way for the association’s future, with a focus on its development and regeneration projects.

Creating the executive director of growth position shows Onward’s commitment to building new homes, Livingstone said. He described the current moment – one where the government has committed £39bn for social and affordable housing – as a “great opportunity.”

“Now it’s for us to put our shoulder to the wheel,” he said.

Over the next 10 years, Livingstone wants to oversee the building of as many houses as possible in Greater Manchester, the delivery of regeneration projects such as Queen Street in Preston and the area around Goodison Park in North Liverpool, and the continued revitilisation of Hattersley.

Last year, Onward built 450 affordable homes. Livingstone wants to grow that number to 600-700 a year.

“If my dreams came true, we’d build 6,000 houses over the next 10 years,” he said. “I could walk off in the distance at that point.

It’s more than a numbers game for Livingstone, though.

“The other thing for me is being innovative about how we do it,” he said, regarding achieving his lofty building ambitions.

“So as well as building good quality places, we need to build in a different way,” he said. “We recognise the need to build houses that are more climate-proof, that can be built faster, have lower energy needs, and are closer to zero carbon. We can do it if only if we scale up.”

Livingstone described Adderley’s role as going beyond just providing maintenance services to include managing the group’s investment into existing properties – 12% of which predate the First World War, he said.

“We want [these homes] to be warmer,” Livingstone said. “We want them to be drier. We want them to have lower energy uses.

“We want, eventually, by doing that, to put more money back in our customer’s pockets. It’s not just being able to rent a home that is affordable, it’s being able to afford live in it,” he continued.

“Andy brings all of those skills,” Livingstone added. “He transformed our maintenance service over the last two years. I don’t think we could have -picked a better candidate.”

Onward is headquartered in Didsbury and manages  35,000 homes throughout the North West.