New boss at the Homes and Communities Agency

December 22, 2016 / Isla MacFarlane
New boss at the Homes and Communities Agency

Nick Walkley has been named Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of the Homes and Communities Agency.

Walkley joins the agency with a track record in delivering housing and regeneration schemes. He has been Chief Executive of Haringey council for the past four years, having previously been Chief Executive of Barnet council.

The government recently published a wide-ranging review of the HCA to help improve its efficiency and provide greater focus to its housebuilding work.

It found that the agency’s development and finance expertise is highly valued by local partners and recommended that it is clearer about its role beyond the direct delivery of its own programme targets, in particular the support it can provide to local partners to drive up housing supply and promote home ownership.

Walkley led a major transformation of Haringey council, restructuring the authority, streamlining management arrangements and stabilising high-risk services. Under his leadership, the council has attracted £1 billion of funding into the large-scale regeneration of Tottenham, using a joint venture to maximise assets and deliver homes and growth.

Nick’s experience of working with local authorities on housing and other regeneration projects will be invaluable in his new post,” said Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. “The HCA has a big role to play in driving forward the government’s housebuilding ambitions and creating a housing market which truly works for everyone.”

Nick Walkley said, “I am incredibly passionate about addressing the housing shortage to give more people the opportunity to have a home of their own. We need to develop new partnerships and bring fresh ideas to the industry and local government to unlock increased housing supply and transform the market. I am excited by this opportunity to establish a new operating model for the HCA so we work flexibly with local places around the country to deliver the government’s ambition to increase housebuilding.”

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