Homes England senior hire: technical capacity model and lessons for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Homes England has appointed John Reid as executive director for technical capacity and coordination, a central role in its new regional operating model due to start in April 2026. From March 2026 he will lead the national office supplying specialist technical expertise to regional operations, effectively acting as a hub for complex housing and regeneration schemes. Reid previously served three years as managing director of Herts Living, following roles as development director at Meridian Water and director of Grosvenor’s estate development programme.
Technical Brief
- Herts Living, where Reid was managing director, was wound up on 31 December 2025.
- His Herts Living role involved a council-owned housing development venture for Hertfordshire County Council.
- He previously spent three years as development director at Meridian Water, a major London regeneration.
- Before Meridian Water, he spent five years directing Grosvenor’s estate development programme.
- The new Homes England operating model already has five executive regional directors appointed.
- Centralised technical capacity should standardise geotechnical due diligence, contamination management and infrastructure servicing assumptions across regions.
Our Take
Within the 374 Infrastructure stories in our database, Homes England features most often around large-scale regeneration and housing-enabling infrastructure, so a senior recruit with estate and new-town experience signals continued emphasis on complex, multi-phase schemes rather than single-asset delivery.
John Reid’s background at Meridian Water and Grosvenor points to a skill set in estate-wide phasing, land value capture and public–private interfaces, which is likely to be important as Homes England’s new operating model from April 2026 reshapes how it structures deals with local authorities and private developers.
The winding up of Herts Living at the end of 2025, followed by Reid’s move in March 2026, underlines how local authority development vehicles in the United Kingdom are cycling talent into national bodies like Homes England, which can change the balance of in-house development expertise versus outsourced consultancy on future projects.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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