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Ex-Peabody chief to step down as chair of Sustainability for Housing
The former chief executive of Peabody will step down as chair of Sustainability for Housing (SfH) later this year.
Brendan Sarsfield has spent more than three years at the helm of SfH, which oversees the Sustainability Reporting Standard for social housing.
The organisation has started its search for a successor who can “maintain momentum” on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting in the sector, SfH said.
Mr Sarsfield was chief executive of Peabody from 2017 to 2021. He was appointed chair of SfH in 2021.
The Sustainability Reporting Standard for social housing is a framework to help housing providers to report on their ESG performance in a transparent, consistent and comparable way.
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Since its creation in 2020, the voluntary standard has secured 150 adopters across the UK with responsibility for around 2.4 million homes.
Of these adopters, 113 are housing providers and 37 are funders for the sector, with £1tn of assets under management.
SfH’s latest annual report found that 63% of funders using the framework believed it has improved their relationship with housing association borrowers, while a similar proportion said it enabled housing associations to achieve favourable financing terms.
The poll also found that the SRS had accelerated implementation of ESG actions for 57% of respondents.
Mr Sarsfield said: “I am extremely proud of what SfH has achieved over the last few years.
“Our mission was to create a uniform framework to help housing associations improve and communicate their ESG performance, in order to attract investment into the sector. We have achieved this despite the environment changing rapidly.”
He added: “It has been an honour to be involved with the SRS over the last three years, and whoever comes next will no doubt relish this challenging yet rewarding role, supported by an excellent board.
“There is still plenty of progress to be made on ESG and I urge the sector to remain engaged with this work, which remains as important as ever.”
Sarah Forster, chief executive of The Good Economy, which provides secretariat support for the SRS, said: “We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Brendan for his work as chair of SfH.
“Under his direction, the SRS has grown to be a vital tool for social housing providers and has enhanced the sector’s reputation amongst funders. As we look to the future, we will be seeking a candidate who can build on his great work and continue to drive the SRS forward.”
David Cleary, board member of SfH and managing director of housing at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Under Brendan’s high-profile leadership, the SRS has gone from strength to strength in what has been a challenging socio-economic environment.
“Brendan’s knowledge, experience and connectivity have been invaluable to the board and we thank him for his dedication, time and commitment.”
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