WOULD-BE residents are set to get a boost after Basingstoke housing association Kingfisher formed a new partnership with Winchester-based HVHS Housing Group.
The new organisation will be known as Wessex Housing Partnership Ltd and bosses claim that savings resulting from the pooling of resources will be ploughed into new homes.
They are supporting an ambitious pledge to build more than 350 new homes a year.
A statement issued by Kingfisher says the partnership plans to combine departments such as legal, IT and finance to reduce costs, but notes that tenants will not be affected by the changes as the two associations will still exist as subsidiaries and serve their own tenants. There are no plans to merge headquarters on one site.
The partnership is now responsible for about 6,500 homes, mainly in Hampshire, with some in Wiltshire and Berkshire.
Kingfisher, which manages 4,900 of those homes, currently builds around 200 new homes a year, and hopes that joining with the smaller HVHS Housing Group will allow them to meet a substantially higher house-building target.
Brian Hutchison, group chief executive of Wessex Housing Partnership Ltd, said: "I am really pleased to announce the formation of Wessex Housing Partnership Ltd and it is great news for Kingfisher tenants.
"The two organisations will be even stronger working together, with their combined 70-year history.
"As well as reducing overhead costs, Wessex Housing Partnership Group will be using its combined landbank and finances to build more than 350 new homes for tenants every year.
"I am really looking forward to the challenges over the next couple of years."
An official launch party is to be held on January 18, at the Apollo Hotel in Basingstoke.
First published: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
