Nick Walkley steps down as Homes England CEO

Nick joined the Homes and Communities Agency as Chief Executive in March 2017 and has led a far-reaching overhaul of the organisation, built around the move to Homes England with a bold mission and strategic plan to increase housing supply and change the housing market.

In a statement, Nick said:

I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved and I’d like to thank my colleagues and our many industry partners for their dedication and support. My successor will find an organisation brimming with talent, purpose and heart. Homes England is well-positioned to support the country’s economic recovery and I wish my colleagues the very best.

Peter Freeman, Chair of the Homes England Board, said in a statement:

On behalf of the Board and colleagues, I would like to thank Nick for his outstanding leadership in building a dynamic, commercial delivery agency. The country faces some crucial choices about how we emerge from the pandemic and Homes England stands ready to support the Government in stimulating economic recovery and increasing housing supply.

Nick Walkley will step down on 28 February. Gordon More, the agency’s Chief Investment Officer, will act as Interim CEO, supported by Lynda McMullan, Chief Financial Officer, and an executive team drawn from the public and private sectors.

Notes to editors

• Nick Walkley joined the Homes and Communities Agency in March 2017. In February 2018, the HCA was relaunched as Homes England with a new mandate to intervene in the housing market in support of the Government’s ambitions to build 300,000 homes per annum by the mid-2020s.

• During Nick Walkley’s tenure, the agency has frequently met or exceeded its performance targets, while delivering several market-shaping deals. This includes agreeing a total of £1.7bn of strategic partnerships with multiple housing associations, significant land acquisitions and developments such as Burgess Hill, York Central and Northstowe, a ground-breaking partnership with Japan’s Sekisui to revolutionise modular construction in this country that was voted ‘deal of the decade’
• In the Government’s 2020 Spending Review, the agency secured £7.4bn to invest in affordable homes across the country and is preparing to open the new Help to Buy programme to support more first-time buyers into home ownership.