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Places for People development boss leaves to join house builder
The head of Places for People’s development division has left after around four years at the giant landlord, to join an East of England house builder.
Jon Cook, who joined Places for People in July 2020, has taken up the role of group managing director at Peterborough-based Allison Homes.
He announced his appointment on LinkedIn last week.
Mr Cook initially joined Places for People as its operations director, but after two years took up the role of chief executive for developments.
Prior to taking a job at the social landlord, Mr Cook spent nearly six years at developer Crest Nicholson.
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His new employer, Allison Homes, has been owned by US investment firm PIMCO since 2021.
Mr Cook will oversee the firm’s operational and commercial activities as it looks to double the size of the business over the next three years.
He said: “The objectives are clear and we have a great land bank in place. I look forward to being a part of the team.”
A number of former high-profile figures sit on Allison Homes’ group board, including Gordon More, the one-time chief investment officer and interim chief executive of Homes England.
Dave Sheridan, the former executive chair of collapsed modular house builder Ilke Homes, is also a non-executive director.
In its last reported full year to the end of September 2023, Allison Homes Group reported a £4.9m pre-tax loss on turnover of £146.2m.
John Anderson, the firm’s chief executive added: “With the full backing of our principal investor, we have a clear growth strategy in place, and Jon’s experience will be vital to helping us deliver this.”
Places for People has promoted Andrew Usher, its group development director, to take over from Mr Cook.
Mr Usher has been at the landlord since May 2023, after joining from Countryside Properties, where he spent around 18 years. Countryside was acquired by rival Vistry in a £1.25bn deal in 2022.
Mr Usher said: “Given the breadth of our organisation, we see at first-hand the terrible impact the housing crisis is having across the UK.
“We are well placed to be a key part of the solution to this, and I’m fired up to be leading a team of passionate professionals who know we have an important role to play.”
Places for People owns and manages around 245,000 properties.
This week, it was announced that Thriving Investments, a subsidiary of Places for People, had teamed up with asset manager Gresham House with an aim to build up a £1bn shared ownership portfolio in five years.
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