Interview: Ian Wardle

As he soon moves onto pastures new, Thirteen Group’s CEO, Ian Wardle, sits down with Mark Lawrence to look back on his time in the role and how he sees the future of the sector.

The life of a chief executive is never easy, but it seems that now, more than ever, it’s an unrelenting task. From Covid-19 and the huge upheaval that took place back in March 2020 to everything that’s happened since, it’s been a time of massive change and uncertainty.

Add into the mix what’s coming down the line — decarbonisation, inflation and consumer regulation, to name just a few — and it doesn’t look as if it’s getting easier.

But it’s something that Thirteen Group CEO Ian Wardle relishes,and he’s soon to be taking on the top role at A2Dominion.

Before we talk about that, Ian reflects on the past couple of years and how he found the pandemic.

He initially thought everyone would be back in the office “within eight weeks”and subsequently found the first six months “really tough”.

He says: “It’s the hardest I’ve everworked; keeping people safe, stress testing the business plan, we weren’t sure what would happen to income, thinking about what customers needed. It was also a really enjoyable time, but I really missed colleagues. We feel a very different organisation now. The faces are different in two years, there are lots of new faces and there are people I’ve never met. We’ve had to all adapt and I still am adapting to how this works.”

But it wasn’t all fighting the negatives, with operational and financial performance remaining strong and satisfaction holding up (bar a dip in repairs when the storms hit the northeast six months ago).

He praises people’s “resilience and ability to find solutions”, saying plenty of initiatives that would’ve normally taken months were rolled out over weekends. This has led to cost savings for the housing association but also a change in structure.

With more involved residents than ever before due to a mix of in person and virtual engagement routes, Ian believes the organisation is “getting better at joining dots and getting better at complaints and levels of dissatisfaction on social media and acting quickly”.

And while things do obviously go wrong, the organisation has now put structures in place to take the learning from them when that time wasn’t taken before.

Ian believes that the resident engagement side has been really positive: “What we’ve got now is a broader view around some issues. What mostly drives dissatisfaction at the organisation is communication.

“Either things drop off, or they aren’t communicated properly or people aren’t contacted. Therefore, customers don’t feel listened to.

“Through the strength of engagement, they just call it out now and we couldn’t be any clearer about how we need to improve. We’ve just said to customers that we need to know and that they’re likely to know issues before they get to us.

“We’ve then from there been able to create service improvement groups with customers. The next big issue after communications is antisocial behaviour. There’s lots we can do that customers aren’t aware of. The new approach is a lot more direct, which I think is a real positive.”

Engagement is a key part of the Social Housing Regulation Bill and getting this right will be hugely significant when providers are dealing with consumer regulation.

Another key part is asset management. Previously overlooked slightly during the drive to development at all costs, the issues around decarbonisation, safety and disrepair now mean housing associations have had to rethink their approach.

Ian says one of the big things for Thirteen has been the “good level of surveying and investment” which has allowed the organisation to stay on top of issues.

But he adds that the other big issue is data: “The big thing we’ve been looking at with the board and customers is the integrity of the data and making that transparent with customers.

“That means being open with the data we have on their homes, particularly the health and safety data, and explaining the terminology and testing of those homes. We’re going into a lot more granular information with teams and customers.

“Our board is really interested in this, and they want to make sure the reporting on safety is tested by internal audit regularly. Even though it’s all green, there’s now an annual sample taken by internal audit.”

On decarbonisation, Ian shares that the association is currently undertaking some pilot projects with the help of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

He adds: “Decarbonisation is a huge opportunity, the technology is coming on, the unit prices are falling, it’s the right thing to do, and if it reduces someone’s bills and the feeling of their home, it’s great. I’ve not seen people in the sector get competitive, unlike development.”

And while these are huge issues waiting on the horizon, there’s another pressing concern.

Inflation is set to hit double figures later this month, which could have catastrophic impacts on business plans.

How have Ian and Thirteen juggled the issue?

“Prices are going up much more than our income now and that’s really hurting our financial plan. It’ll be fine but things will have to give.

“The result of that is that the board has been clear that the priorities are health and safety first, what we need to invest in customers’ homes and then development. Our numbers have decreased in terms of the development programme.

“When we run the inflation numbers over the next few years, it hurts and it’s development that has to give. I’ve never known need like it, we have very few voids but the need is phenomenal. Raising rents isn’t the thing to do.

“Could we get some sort of convergence over time? Hopefully, if the economy does rebound quickly and we have fiscal packages that work, then we need growth. At the minute people cannot afford the rent and they’re making some horrid choices.

“We did a scenario and I think it was £210m out of the business plan over 30 years. It’s really tricky. We can withstand it, but it’s lost capacity that could be doing good things at the time it’s most needed.”

And so, with this hugely tricky and challenging backdrop, Ian moves to a larger housing association in A2Dominion.

What attracted him to the role and what does he hope to achieve there?

“I have two points of contact for A2 and that’s when I worked in Reading, we partnered on a project with them, and they were amazing. The other was that my wife works in housing, and she gave a very glowing reference to the organisation.

“She deals with the frontline and said that they always come back to her, think about the customer and have empathy. That’s the kind of organisation I like.

“The tensions are different and there’s a lot of learning there for me too. When I got to know the organisation through the process, I got a strong feeling about it and knew I wanted it. There’s so much more they can do.

“It’s an amazing organisation, and the needs are so much higher, so the work is much harder. The operating environment is very different, and I really enjoy the thought of that.”

As Ian moves on, he leaves a legacy behind at Thirteen that’s customer focussed and trusts staff to make positive decisions. The operating environment may be hard, but the tracks Ian has laid at Thirteen stand them in good stead to be able to deal with the challenges that are coming, as well as make further improvements.

A last word from Ian, then, on what he’d like to see in a year’s time, were he given a magic wand.

“I’d like to see a proper national housing strategy that’s resourced properly and brings everyone together, as it’s non-existent. We work in silos unnecessarily.

“There’s a lot of resource that’s untapped and we forget that people are in some desperate situations and all that people want is a home. We need a proper strategy that isn’t based on politics but is cross party and involves the DWP and other agencies.

“It’s an economic impediment, an impediment to the NHS. There are loads of solutions, but we just need clarity and resource.”

2016 – 2022 Chief Executive – Thirteen 2013 – 2016 Managing Director – Reading Borough Council

2007 – 2013 Director of Regeneration Services – Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

2006 – 2008 Head of Regeneration Services – Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

2003 – 2006 Director – Sunniside Partnership, Sunderland

2001 – 2003 Development Director – George Wimpey (now Taylor Wimpey) 1998 – 2001 Land Manager – George Wimpey 1997 – 1998 Land Negotiator – George Wimpey 1995 – 1997 Graduate trainee – George Wimpey