Housing finance excellence recognised at HANA Awards 2016

Dozens of housing association professionals were recognised for their achievements over the past year at the 2016 Housing Association National Accountancy (HANA) Awards 2016 in London this week.

The event took place at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel in London on 5 July with organisations from across the country shortlisted.

London G15 member, Amicushorizon, had a particularly good afternoon, taking home four awards in total.

Social Housing was media partner for the event, organised by the National Housing Federation (NHF) to ‘celebrate some of the most innovative and progressive finance teams and individuals who are rising to considerable financial challenges, while continuing to provide great customer service, financial stability and excellent conditions for investment’.

NHF chief executive David Orr introduced the awards afternoon, which was hosted by broadcaster and former MP Gyles Brandreth.

Sarah Smith, executive director finance and resources at Amicushorizon, and Ken Youngman, group finance director at Family Mosaic, were joint winners of the finance director of the year category for large organisations (pictured, above).

They were also declared ‘overall winners’ across all categories (see below).

Ms Smith said: ‘I’m honoured to have been recognised as FD of the year against such incredible competition. I’m also delighted that Ken Youngman, FD at Family Mosaic, was able to share the spoils!And to have been awarded a further prize as overall winners was a wonderful surprise. I’m incredibly proud of my team.’

Mr Youngman said: ‘I’m still amazed to have won two awards and am genuinely delighted that the judges decided to recognise two organisations in those particular categories, not just me.  I like to think I do a good job and to be recognised by your fellow professionals is a great honour.’

Orbit’s former chief operating officer Anne Turner was awarded the lifetime achievement award. After retiring from Orbit this year, Ms Turner is now a group board member for both Network Homes and Asra Housing.

She said: ‘It was a huge surprise and a great honour. I spent almost half of my career at Orbit – it was a place I always felt I had the opportunity to express myself and be innovative. I was well supported by the team and chief executive Paul Tennant, who understood my strengths and recognised the hard work myself and the team did.

‘What is important isn’t personal ambition; it is knowing the hard work people do across the sector makes a real difference to customers’ lives.’

Hexagon HA’s Phil Newsam won the award for FD of the year, small to medium-sized organisation.

She said: ‘It was an honour to be nominated and I am delighted to have won. The strategic work that I do is underpinned by the work of my brilliant finance team, and helped by careful consideration of the options at executive team and board level. So this is really a tribute to all my colleagues in Hexagon.’   

Treasury team of the year for larger associations went to Network Homes, while Wandle HA won the award in the small to medium sized category.

L&Q won the award for best finance team at a large association, with Yarlington HG taking the award for the small to medium sized organisations.

Tim Coppard, Wandle’s executive director of finance, said the team is ‘a vital part of the organisation, one which has been instrumental in many of our achievements this year and in our delivery of new homes for those in need in south London’.

Referring to a recent restructure and rebrand, Barry Nethercott, executive director of finance and governance at Network, said everyone on the treasury team ‘worked tirelessly to ensure that our amalgamation into Network Homes went as planned’.

‘To do this, while also gaining consent for our new subsidiary SW9, and further improving our financial strength all in one year is practically unheard of,’ he added.

Terence Wong, L&Q’s director of financial services, said: ‘I am so proud to be part of this fantastic finance team and am delighted with this external accolade and recognition by our peers of the remarkable work being done here at L&Q and ahead of the merger with Hyde and East Thames to deliver even bigger things in the future.’

Andy Weston, Yarlington’s head of financial reporting, said: ‘Submitting our application to the HANAAs provided a great opportunity to reflect on the success we have achieved over the last year and the awards event itself gave us a chance celebrate our hard work together as a team.             

‘What I am most proud about, is the team’s reaction to the award. They know that the next year will be just as challenging and we have a clear plan for improving the support we provide to the organisation.’

David Orr added: ‘From Yarlington to Peabody and from Wandle to AmicusHorizon, all of the outstanding winners fully deserve the recognition for the work they do.

‘However, I know they represent just a few examples of the fantastic wider work we do as a sector – and look forward to hearing more examples at next year’s awards and in the weeks and months to come.’

Pictures: Glyn Harrison Photography