Sponsored content

Lindsay Wood may have only just taken up the position of chief executive of Andium Homes but her involvement with the company predates its existence, as she tells Emily Moore

THERE is, as it is often said, no place like home, with a person’s abode offering not just shelter from the elements but also somewhere they feel safe, secure and able to be themselves.

It is perhaps because of this latter point that, as most people take their first steps out of education and into employment, the desire to have their own space becomes ever stronger.

However, as many headlines have shown over the past few years, home ownership is not a dream which every Islander finds easy to fulfil.

But this, as the new chief executive of Andium Homes points out, is where the government-owned provider of affordable homes may be able to help.

Indeed, one of Lindsay Wood’s key goals in her new position is to raise awareness among Islanders, and particularly among those questioning whether their future lies in Jersey, of the support that may be available to them.

“I think of Andium not as a property business but as a people business,” said Lindsay whose appointment to the company’s top job in April made her the first female chief executive of a States-owned entity.

“The most important considerations for me are meeting the needs of the people already living in our properties and helping Islanders to understand the opportunities they may have to rent or purchase one of our homes. As a mum of two teenagers, I understand that many young people question whether they want to stay in the Island, move to the UK – or further afield – or return to Jersey after university or other activities.

“While there are several factors that influence those decisions, the cost of housing is a big driver. But, in many ways, there are now more opportunities than ever for people to take that first step onto the property ladder, as the criteria for accessing an Andium home has been broadened and we have more homes than ever coming forward, so I would really encourage any young person who is in the midst of making those all-important life choices to look at the options we might be able to offer.”

Those options, adds Lindsay, are open to Islanders looking to buy or rent.

“We are developing 800 homes at the moment, of which around half will be available to rent and half will be for purchase,” she said. “Critically, thanks to the Andium Homebuy scheme, people can buy one of our properties without a deposit, which we know is often the biggest obstacle for potential homeowners to overcome.

“Islanders who purchase under the Andium Homebuy scheme also generally find that, even with today’s interest rates, the cost of servicing a mortgage on our homes is less than the equivalent rent in the private sector.”

Under the Andium Homebuy scheme, Lindsay explains, Islanders buy their home outright, taking out a mortgage to cover between 70% and 75% of the property’s price. The remaining 25-30% remains as a separate charge, which is only repaid to Andium Homes when the homeowner sells the property.

While the demand for these homes is understandably high, Lindsay says that there has never been a better time for Islanders to join the waiting list, which is called the Affordable Purchase Pathway.

“The biggest demand that we see among renters is for one-bedroom apartments as well as family homes, while those looking to buy are typically looking for two-bedroom or family homes,” she said. “Recognising those areas of demand, our new developments comprise a broad range of property sizes and types.”

The most important considerations for me are meeting the needs of the people already living in our properties and helping Islanders to understand the opportunities they may have to rent or purchase one of our homes

Among the sites which the company is developing are three in St Helier: Maisons Les Arches, which is behind Coop Grand Marché, the former Ann Street Brewery and the former Mayfair Hotel.

“In addition to this, we have recently signed contracts to build 250 family homes on sites, including a field at Sion, identified in the Bridging Island Plan, which will significantly increase the opportunities available and should help to reduce the amount of time that people have to wait for new homes.

“Indeed, we have several cases where people have joined the list having seen one of our new developments and they have been able to secure one of those homes almost straight away,” she said.

While clearly excited about the new builds coming to fruition, Lindsay is also tremendously proud of Andium Homes’ record over its 11-year history.

“I was working in financial services when I saw an advert, which was calling for a team of housing professionals to come together and support the political case for the creation of a new social housing delivery agent,” she recalled. “Although it wasn’t a sector I had thought about before, I was immediately hooked.”

Having formed part of the team that created Andium, Lindsay has been with the not-for-profit organisation “since before day one”.

“It took two years of work as part of that team for the Housing Minister at the time to secure the agreement of the States Assembly for the venture, although many members of the team had been working on it a lot longer than that,” she explained. “When Andium Homes was established, I joined the company as finance manager, before becoming chief financial officer and ultimately chief executive when Ian Gallichan retired.

“During the 11 years since we were created, we have been on a really interesting and fulfilling journey, delivering more than 1,100 new homes and completing the major refurbishment of a further 500 properties. Before Andium was founded, the Housing Department was responsible for the maintenance of States-owned properties but it was a difficult time.

“The homes didn’t meet the required maintenance standards and there wasn’t a business model in place that enabled the funding of the necessary investment. Founding Andium Homes enabled us to implement a structure that generated sufficient certainty over our income and expenditure to undertake that maintenance and, within six years, we had brought all the homes up to the required standards. We also established a capital programme to enable us to deliver new homes at pace, which has supported the Housing Minister’s policy objective to broaden access to our homes.”

Although she is clearly proud of the company’s achievements, Lindsay is determined to “stay on that strong path of providing more homes and continuing to improve services”.

“It is not enough just to build homes; we also want to build communities,” she said. “Our rental properties provide homes for one in ten Islanders, which is a significant responsibility, and one which my colleagues and I take very seriously. We know that we are making a difference to people’s lives, and I am really passionate about supporting our clients.”

To that end, Andium Homes has recently launched its Client Voice and Community Engagement initiative, which is designed to enhance dialogue with residents and understand how they want to receive services.

“It is really important to me that we hear from our clients, continuously strengthening those relationships, and that we support the development of community spaces within our developments,” she said. “We are therefore focusing on play facilities and outside spaces, so that we can generate those community areas that will bring people out of their homes and encourage them to interact with their neighbours.”

And that focus underpins Lindsay’s conviction that Andium Homes is not purely a “property business”.

“This,” she stresses, “is a social business, and everything we do is designed to improve the lives of Islanders, enabling them to live comfortably in their homes.”

  • For more information, visit andiumhomes.je.