Populo is Newham Council's wholly owned housing company, tasked with designing and building Newham’s next generation of high-quality sustainable new homes and communities. Populo Homes is our registered provider of social housing and is an integral part of the Populo Group.

Newham is one of London’s most vibrant, diverse, and fastest growing boroughs. Ten years after the Olympics, the borough is still harnessing the Olympic legacy to benefit local residents. Indeed, the latest phase of London’s Olympic Legacy is being delivered in-house by Populo on the Carpenters Estate, one of London’s largest estate regeneration and restoration projects. Districts like Stratford and Royal Docks have been transformed for the better, and the opening of five new Crossrail stops later this month will connect the borough to Central London in 15 minutes. The forward-thinking Council administration is ensuring thousands of new homes are being built and residents are benefiting from the resulting economic, social, and environmental uplifts.

Our close collaboration with Newham Council, will ensure Populo is on track to be a £1 billion investment company by the end of the decade. Together we are already delivering for Newham’s diverse and growing communities. Our long-term commitment leverages Newham Council’s ambition, land, and assets to deliver tens of thousands of homes and create thriving and sustainable local areas. Our shared commitment to the environment means we are also delivering homes for the future to tackle the climate emergency.

Our environmentally sustainable new housing developments enhance and enrich the local communities, offering the best in class design.

Populo has doubled in the last year and will double again. Over the past year, we completed 289 homes, of which 212 were affordable. By March 2023, we aim to grow the number of homes under Populo’s management closer to 1,000, with an aim to build up to 7,000 new homes by 2040.

As a landlord, we have an unwavering commitment to providing outstanding homes and exceptional  customer service.

At the heart of Newham lies the Carpenters Estate. Built in the 1970s, there are 710 homes; 434 in three high rise blocks (James Riley Point, Lund Point, and Dennison Point), and 276 in low rise blocks and terraced houses. Newham Council is the majority freehold owner of the estate, with part being owned by the Worshipful Company of Carpenters. 

The renewal and regeneration has been much talked about but little acted upon for well over a decade. However, in December 2021 the tenants and community of Carpenters voted unanimously in favour of the redevelopment of the estate and the creation of over 2000 new homes.

Our aim is to establish Carpenters Estate as a ‘trailblazer’ for Newham, by optimising Community Wealth Building throughout, master planning, delivery, and ongoing estate activities. The redevelopment of the Carpenters Estate offers an opportunity to do things differently and to embrace and take forward the ideas and principles outlined in the Council’s Recovery and Reorientation Strategy.

Like the most dynamic start-ups, Populo’s growing team is united by a single purpose: making Newham home. Our team come from a wide range of backgrounds in the private and public sectors. Our board is made up of industry leaders from across the real estate sector, providing the best-in-class governance and strategic insight. We work hard, and we work smart. We operate in an open and collegiate way, encouraging people to take responsibility and use initiative. We also encourage the team to be adaptable and promote agile working to ensure that our core business objectives get delivered. This may mean that you will enjoy a more wide ranging and valued role than working for larger businesses.

Our work is community critical, exciting, challenging, and rewarding, and we want to find talented individuals who can bring relevant new skills and expertise, and importantly, the right attitude to the business. We offer an attractive renumeration package with generous paid leave, the opportunity for flexible working, paid membership to professional bodies, and dedicated personal training and development opportunities.

Finally, we place great value on our connections to Newham; it is important to us to reflect and understand our borough and its diverse communities. We are always interested to hear from local people who share our values around diversity and inclusion.

About the Role

The Associate Director will take overall responsibility for delivering the Carpenters regeneration and restoration. This will include all aspects of financial, quality, and time performance. You will lead the internal and external teams on development projects, from feasibility to completion of construction.

This will include finalising the masterplan, then delivering it on a phase-by-phase basis. We are looking for a collaborative leadership style to build a cohesive team across the requisite diverse professional elements required. This will also require building and leading the expanded internal team and liaising at the officer and political level with our shareholder, the London Borough of Newham. The programme of work is circa £1bn in total.

How to Apply: 

To submit an application please click here.

Should you wish to have a confidential discussion regarding this position, then please contact our recruitment partner Marek Dobrowolski: 

Partner

Marek.dobrowolski@berwickpartners.co.uk

Closing date: Monday 6th June 2022