Member Article

AmicusHorizon and Viridian have joined together to create housing association giant

A new housing association formed following the partnership of AmicusHorizon and Viridian is set to oversee the creation of over 44,000 new homes across London, the Midlands and South East England.

Optivo has launched today (Monday 22 May) after the two firms merged to create a new UK housing association giant which will boast a turnover of £306m.

The new business has pledged to invest £3.5bn in new housing stock over the next ten years and will raise £1.5bn to finance its housebuilding programme, as it looks to help plug the UK’s housing gap.

Paul Hackett, Chief Executive of Optivo, said: “Today marks the beginning of Optivo and the start of an exciting new journey.

“We’re now ‘one team’ and will be able to build more new homes than we could have done as separate organisations.

“Optivo will respond positively to the challenges of the housing crisis while looking to deliver sector-leading services. We look forward to working with our partners to meet housing need and creating safe, sustainable communities for our residents.”

Nick Apetroaie, Deputy Chief Executive of Optivo, said: “At Optivo we want to meet housing need at all levels, from low income households to aspiring professionals.

“But we’re also passionate about increasing people’s life opportunities and showing we care about their futures. We’ll do all we can to help them flourish by providing access to education and employment support, along with supporting their health and wellbeing.”