A long successful track record of working together dates back to 2005 when Kingdom completed its first housing development in Perth and entered into an agreement with Fairfield for the management of the homes and tenancies.

The partnership arrangement has continued over the last 15 years, with Kingdom developing new projects for Fairfield to increase the Co-operative’s housing numbers. During this period Kingdom has continued to develop its own housing projects in the Perth and Kinross area and these new homes are managed by the Co-operative.

Over the last 18 months, Fairfield has been working closely with the Scottish Housing Regulator to improve governance and management arrangements at the Co-operative. Both organisations see the agreement as the latest stage of a great deal of progress has been made over this period.

Bob McDougall, Fairfield Housing Co-operative’s chair, said: “I am delighted to announce that the new Collaborative Working Agreement with Kingdom launched on Friday 1st May. This means we now have shared services agreements for chief executive services, governance, financial management, and strategic asset management.

“These services will provide the support Fairfield needs to move forward as a well-governed, stable organisation able to build on our progress over the last year and to focus even more strongly on achieving excellent customer and property services.”

Bob added: “Over the next few months, we will build new relationships with our Kingdom colleagues, and perhaps do this in different ways than we had planned. I am looking forward to working with the Kingdom board members and staff, in what will be another exciting chapter in Fairfield’s journey.”

Freya Lees, chair at Kingdom Housing Association, said: “At Kingdom we have a long successful track record of collaborative working and I’m really pleased that Kingdom and Fairfield have entered into this agreement, which will deliver mutual benefits for both organisations, our tenants, customers and stakeholders.”

Freya added: “We have established a joint Project Board, with representatives from the Kingdom Board and the Fairfield management committee. The Project Board will oversee the operations and effectiveness of the shared services arrangements and in the future will consider if there is added value in entering into a more formal partnership relationship.”

Fairfield owns and manages more than 500 homes in Perth and Kinross. As part of Kingdom’s ambitious new build development programme over the next two years, it will also own a similar number of properties in the area. The partnership working will mean that managing over 1,000 homes in the area will provide enhanced opportunities for efficiencies and service delivery.