L&Q

L&Q (London & Quadrant Housing Trust) is a housing association operating in Greater London, the South East, East Anglia, and parts of the North West (under its subsidiary company Trafford Housing Trust). L&Q's registered office is based in Stratford.^[1] Quadrant Housing Association, one of its original forebears, was established in 1963. L&Q is one of the largest housing associations in England. As of 2021, the company owns/manages in excess of 120,000 homes, housing c250,000 residents.

L&Q

Founded	1963
Founder	Rev Nicolas Stacey
Type	Housing association
Location	London
Area served	London, South East England, East Anglia, North West England
Product	Homes to buy, affordable and social-rented homes, supported and sheltered housing
Key people	Aubrey Adams OBE (Chairman) Fiona Fletcher-Smith (CEO) Waqar Ahmed (Finance)
Subsidiaries	Quadrant Construction Services Ltd, L&Q Living and Trafford Housing Trust
Employees	2800+ (2021)
Website	https://www.lqgroup.org.uk/

History

The Quadrant Housing Association was formed in the London Borough of Greenwich in 1963 when 32 people invested £2 each to create a housing association. Its founder, Rev Nicolas Stacey, was a Church of England priest who later became head of Social Services for Kent County Council.^[2][3]

In 1973 Quadrant joined forces with another association, London Housing Trust, which had been set up in 1967. The merged organisation was named London & Quadrant Housing Trust.

In 2011, London and Quadrant was criticised by Conservative Party politicians alleging that L&Q had misled the public and MPs over its plans for development on the site of the Walthamstow Stadium.^[4]

In December 2016, London and Quadrant merged with the East Thames Housing Group.^[5]

In February 2017, L&Q completed a deal to buy the private land company Gallagher Estates for £505 million from Tony Gallagher.^[6]

An independent review conducted by Campbell Tickell in 2018 revealed maintenance of some of the company's properties had fallen below standards.^[7]

The Times reported in 2019 the company owned 95,000 homes across London and the south-east.^[8]

In 2019, L&Q acquired Trafford Housing Trust.^[9]

In 2021, Fiona Fletcher-Smith was appointed Group CEO, replacing David Montague CBE.^[10]

Quadrant Construction

In 2010, L&Q created an in-house construction practice, Quadrant Construction, which grew by 2016 to a £200m turnover business, making a £4m profit that was given back to the housing association. However, on 23 May 2017, L&Q announced a restructuring which would see Quadrant rebranded, with consultations starting about possible redundancies among the 200-strong workforce.^[11]

References

1. "London & Quadrant (L&Q)". the Guardian. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
2. "Obituary Rev Nicolas Stacey". The Times. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
3. "The Reverend Nicolas Stacey, reform-minded Anglican – obituary". The Telegraph. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
4. Hill, Dave (11 November 2012). "Walthamstow stadium: "This is not over," pledges Duncan Smith as campaign turns fire on Boris". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
5. . East Thames. 6 December 2016. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
6. Isabelle Fraser (2 February 2017). "L&Q snaps up land investor Gallagher Estates in £505m deal". The Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
7. "'Weaknesses' found after investigation into L&Q repairs service". Inside Housing. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
8. Bounds, Andy; Evans, Judith. "L&Q to spend £4bn building homes in north-west England". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
9. "L&Q completes Trafford Housing Trust takeover". Place North West. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
10. "Fiona Fletcher-Smith becomes new chief executive of L&Q".
11. Morby, Aaron (23 May 2017). "200 Quadrant Construction staff face restructure". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 23 May 2017.