Great Places Housing Group is a profit-for-purpose business, which exists to improve the lives of the people living in our 25,000 homes primarily across the North-West and South Yorkshire.
Our combined portfolio includes social and affordable rented homes, shared ownership for first-time buyers, market rent and sale, keyworker accommodation and supported housing that promotes independence and wellbeing for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
We are much more than just a landlord, providing a wide range of services and promoting partnership work to create vibrant, sustainable communities.
We are also a great employer, and supporters of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.
Our history traces back to 1963, however it was the merger of Manchester Methodist Housing Association and Ashiana Housing Association in 2006 that created Great Places Housing Group.
In April 2020 Great Places merged with Equity Housing Group to create a bigger and stronger business, and in 2021 we updated our shared history in a new animation which takes viewers through the decades and picks out the defining moments in our corporate lifetime.
Great Places is a profit-for-purpose business. Put simply, the more efficient we are as an organisation and the greater our surplus, the more of the added value work we can carry out to transform our communities and improve the lives of our customers.
In 2021 we created The Story of Great Places, which forms our corporate narrative and articulates the common purpose that unites us all.
Matthew Harrison, Chief Executive
Peter Bojar, Executive Director of Growth & Assets
Guy Cresswell, Executive Director of Customer Services
Alison Dean, Executive Director of People & Culture
Phil Elvy, Executive Director of Finance
Helen Spencer, Executive Director of Growth
Gemma Bradley-Rigbye – Business Transformation
Sharon Brown – Assurance
Mark Foster – Repairs
Nick Gornall – Development
Andrew Gray – Independence & Wellbeing
Carl Holloway – Communications
Elaine Johnson – People
Julie Lynch – Finance
Caroline Millington – Private Sector Management
Rachel Mills – Customer Experience
Tony Muir – Sustainable Assets
Simon Robinson – Neighbourhoods
Chris Heath – Managing Director (Cube Homes)
Anthony Davison (Chair)
Christine Amyes (Deputy Chair, Chair of Remuneration and Appraisal Committee)
Grenville Page (Chair of Audit and Assurance Committee)
David Robinson (also Chair of Cube Board)
Mervyn Jones
Nahim Ruhi-Khan (from 16/9/21)
Patrick Ricketts (from 16/9/21)
Sandra Palmer (from 16/9/21)
David Robinson (Chair)
Babar Ahmad
Emma Prichard-Selby
John Williamson (from 9/12/21)
During 2021-22 we have seen some changes to our Board as Jenny Rayner, Jerry Green and Celia Cashman stepped down as part of the planned succession and after a combined service of more than 20 years. Their expertise and contributions have been invaluable in steering the direction of the Group and forming the new modern business we have today.
In September 2021 we recruited three new members to our Group Board – Nahim Ruhi-Khan, Patrick Ricketts and Sandra Palmer – and John Williamson, a new Board member for our subsidiary, Cube.
We held an intensive recruitment process and the new recruits were stand-out candidates in an extremely strong field of 75 applicants.
All of them are bringing a wealth of experience which will be pivotal in shaping the direction of the Group and Cube going forward.
As part of our Meet The Board podcasts we launched a series of informal video chats. In each episode, we hear from one of our Board members and get to know more about their background, what they enjoy about their role and a few of their favourite things. The series also shines a spotlight on the function of the Board as a whole and how they help us to ensure we deliver on our vision of Great Homes, Great Communities and Great People.
Patrick Ricketts was first in the hot seat: find out more by watching our introductory video.
In addition, we have strengthened our Executive Team with the internal appointment of Helen Spencer to the new role of Executive Director of Growth in line with our commitment to our development ambitions and our Strategic Partnership with Homes England.
We’ve also strengthened our governance arrangements in adopting and being fully compliant with the new NHF Code of Governance. A full statement of compliance is due to be published on the Great Places website in Autumn 2022 explaining how we have assessed our compliance, and an internal audit has tested and confirmed compliance with the new Code.
