Northern Lights Group
What is Northern Lights Group?
NLG is a consortium of seven registered social landlords; Arcon, Arawak Walton, Equity, St Vincent’s, Muir, “Johnnie” Johnson and Accent. The Consortium is principally based in the North West but operates across the North of England, with some partners also operating in the East Midlands and East of England.
Why was it formed?
The consortium was formed in response to the Housing Corporation’s policy paper “Re-inventing Investment” published in October 2003. This publication introduced the concept of larger organisations or consortia receiving social housing grant from the Housing Corporation.
The principle aim of the consortium was initially to secure Housing Corporation investment partnering status and then to proceed to submit bids and receive allocations for the 2006–2008 financial years.
Through Accent Group as national lead investment partner, NLG partners have received £20m of Social Housing Grant to produce 539 new or refurbished homes in 2006–2008 across the areas of operation.
What is the NLG Management Structure?
There are currently three main groups within the NLG consortium:
- Joint Chief Executives & Chairs Group: dealing with strategic direction and organisation development.
- Chief Executives Steering Group: dealing with strategic and operational direction.
- Development Directors Group: dealing with
- Bids, allocations and programme management
- Procurement and Asset management issues
- Construction Clients charter
- Identification of potential growth opportunities
What will it do in the future?
In the immediate future the Development Directors Group must ensure that the new programme for 2006–2008 is delivered. We will also seek to build a forward programme of projects during this period to ensure continuity of the consortium.
From the inception of NLG all partners agreed that the consortium was more than just a development vehicle, it should also explore how partners could work together to improve services, increase efficiencies and be more effective. This is the remit of the joint Chief Executives & Chairs Group.
