Member Article

New director of development and asset management for Karbon

A key new appointment has been made to lead the ambitious development and investment programme at Karbon Homes. Sarah Robson has joined Karbon as Director of Development and Asset Management. The position sees Sarah lead a team responsible for not only developing new homes, but also investing in maintaining and renewing Karbon’s stock of close to 30,000 homes across the North East and Yorkshire. She joins Karbon with a wealth of experience in high profile roles in the North East. She is well known for her achievements in nearly 10 years as Head of Economic Development and Housing at Durham County Council. She led on the delivery of physical regeneration projects across the county as well as employability and economic development. Sarah established Business Durham, as the business facing arm of the council along with a range of joint ventures. In terms of housing, she was responsible for the authority’s 19,000 council homes until she completed a stock transfer to County Durham Housing Group, now Believe Housing, as well as a range of other strategic housing authority services. Sarah established Chapter Homes as the council’s market housing company. Prior to this she worked for Tees Valley Regeneration and more recently was Corporate Director of Growth, Enterprise and Environment at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. Sarah will be replacing Ged Walsh who has decided to step down from his role with Karbon at the end of this month to spend more time with his friends and family and to pursue other interests. Sarah said: “I’m excited to join an ambitious business with a social heart, in a role that will allow me to work with people to ensure they live in great quality homes. My career to date has been focused on the people and places of the north and trying to improve prosperity and quality of life and I feel that this role aligns with that and will allow me to deliver more, whilst working alongside a great team of colleagues.” Charlotte Carpenter, Executive Director of Growth and Business Development at Karbon, said “We’re really excited for Sarah to join the team. She brings with her a wealth and breadth of housing and regeneration experience which will be invaluable in helping Karbon fulfil its development and place-shaping ambitions.” Karbon’s regionwide development programme sees the business invest in building around 500 new homes a year throughout its five year ‘Strong Foundations’ strategy. Karbon has recently issued £100m in bonds to support the delivery of its ambitious strategy. The organisation provides a range of ways for customers to access homes, from homes to buy and shared ownership, to affordable housing, social housing and supported and specialised housing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graeme King .