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New look Sovereign signs up Twynham
Sovereign Housing Association has restructured its business this month to enable other RSLs to join, and has already signed up its first partner. Sovereign Housing Association will retain management of its 12,500 homes but a new non-asset holding parent - Sovereign Housing Group Limited – has been created to provide key central support services, such as treasury management and development. The move means different parts of the new group will be able to focus better on improving service delivery to residents, whilst achieving greater efficiency through economies of scale. Christchurch-based Twynham Housing Association also joined the new Sovereign Housing Group on 1 April. Twynham had been searching for a partner with the size, experience and reputation that would enable the Association to undertake new development work again after a period under Housing Corporation supervision. Its own improvements and the move to join with Sovereign mean it recently came out of supervision. The Housing Corporation has approved the new group structure, including the partnership with Twynham. Sovereign’s Chief Executive, Ann Santry, becomes Group Chief Executive. She said: “This more flexible structure will enable us to grow and form partnerships with other organisations so that we can meet the targets in our strategic plan. Staff in the new parent will provide essential support services to other parts of the group and this will also help us meet the government’s efficiency agenda.” On the involvement of Twynham she added: “Both associations will continue to operate autonomously, but benefit from being supported in a partnership. This opens the door for future developments on the south coast, reduces the cost of borrowing and overheads. It’s a good fit, which will achieve better results for everyone.” Marion Franks, Twynham’s new Managing Director, added: “This partnership creates a solid future for Twynham, giving us the strength, security and range of expertise only a larger organisation can provide. At the same time this move allows us to retain our local autonomy and stay close to our customers. We are very pleased to have entered this partnership with Sovereign, which has an excellent track record. We are also looking forward to being able to re-start our development programme and to improve our services to residents by sharing best practice throughout the group.” Sovereign is already one of the best-run RSLs in the country according to a recent Audit Commission inspection, and owns and manages around 12,500 homes from Oxfordshire to Hampshire and Devon. Christchurch-based Twynham brings another 2,500 homes on the south coast under the Sovereign umbrella.Published 05 April 2005 |
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 ©2008 Sovereign Housing Association Limited (charitable). All rights reserved. |
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