Peabody and Catalyst Housing have announced proposals to join together to create “a better, locally focused organisation.”

Both organisations’ Boards believe there are significant benefits for residents in joining together, and are now launching consultations with residents to seek their views.

The organisations say it will enable them to “invest and innovate more” in areas such as services, homes, communities, technology and people.

If the proposals go ahead, the combined organisation would be led by Ian McDermott.

McDermott will also be taking over as (interim) CEO of Peabody when Brendan Sarsfield leaves at the end of September. Peabody Chair, Lord Kerslake will be Designate Chair for the new organisation and Ravi Rajagopal, Chair of Catalyst will be Designate Vice Chair.

Ian McDermott, CEO of Catalyst and designate CEO for the combined organisation, said: “We believe that we can go further and faster together. With our shared, aspirations and geographical reach, we can create an organisation which has customers at the front and centre of its thinking and planning.

“We will have a stronger local focus and be more connected with our communities. We can combine this with the benefits of scale and the ability created by the larger organisation. It is difficult to imagine two organisations with more closely aligned values and vision for the future.”

Lord Kerslake, Chair of Peabody and designate chair for the combined organisation, said: “Our new association will have around 100,000 homes, and I believe that this scale, combined with our local knowledge, will enable us to provide valuable insight from our residents’ experiences to help better inform policy and have a positive impact on life chances.

“We’ll look forward to working with government and partners to develop innovative solutions that improve services to customers, enhance building safety and reduce carbon consumption.”

The organisations will be launching resident consultations in the summer to gather their views, before the respective Boards consider feedback and decide whether to proceed with the proposals in the Autumn.

The proposal envisages Catalyst joining Peabody in Spring 2022, as a subsidiary.