News
13-11-2020SOCIAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE NAMED FASTEST GROWING NORTH EAST BUSINESS FOR 2020
Hellens Residential Limited has been named as the fastest growing company in the North East, as part of the Ward Hadaway Fastest 50 Awards.
The awards, now in their 22nd year, celebrate the fastest growing privately-owned businesses in the region, based on financial data filed with Companies House. This year, the data related to the period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hellens Residential Limited was named as the overall fastest growing company in the region, as well as winning the small business category.
Hellens Residential Limited is a private for-profit registered provider and was created in 2012 by Hellens Group owners Kate Hellens and Gavin Cordwell-Smith. Gavin and Kate started the business to make a positive social impact with the cash surpluses generated from the construction, development, and manufacturing businesses within the Hellens Group.
It has an extensive property portfolio throughout the North East, Tees Valley and Yorkshire extending to more than 200 properties, an increase from 80 last year. As an investment partner with Homes England, Hellens Residential has attracted grants through the last three Affordable Homes Programmes in order to maximise the impact of the funds invested in the business by Kate and Gavin.
Kate Hellens, Managing Director of Hellens Residential Limited, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award. Our mission has been to create a comfortable and secure home for our customers to live in, from which they can build a more stable life.
“By growing the business at pace, we feel we have been able to make a real difference to the quality and choice of affordable homes available across the region. We aim to provide excellent customer service and this award is a reflection of the hard work put in by our dedicated management team. We are very proud of the close relationship we have with our customers and are currently particularly focused on supporting them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This prestigious award follows our recent success in securing official Garden Communities status from the government for Burtree Garden Village in Darlington, where we hope to deliver a further 500 affordable homes over the next 15 years. During the last 12 months we have secured £17m of new finance facilities with National Westminster Bank and Unity Trust Bank which gives us a strong base for Burtree Garden Village and our wider growth plans.”
Julia Thomson, the partner leading the social housing property team at Ward Hadaway, said, “I am delighted to see Hellens Residential recognised as the Fastest Growing overall company in this year’s Fastest 50. It is all the more rewarding as we’ve been working with the team since they established their social housing business back in 2012, and the growth for which they are being recognised mirrors our own expanding work within this sector.
“Kate and her team have stayed true to a consistent vision delivered within an ambitious timescale, and in so doing have made a real difference to the quality and choice of affordable homes available across the region. I look forward to continuing to work with them as they further develop their offering.”