Under the deal announced last week, OHG, which owns and manages 20,000 homes, will join 55,000-home Riverside, which includes Riverside Scotland (formerly Irvine Housing Association), as a subsidiary on December 1, following expected approval from the Financial Conduct Authority. After two years, it will be a single housing association with one executive team and board.

The two boards agreed an outline business case for the partnership in June, paving the way for more detailed discussions and the creation of a comprehensive blueprint for how the relationship could work. A formal six-week consultation process then took place with residents. From a total of 3,632 responses, 48% were in favour and 12% were against the plans, while 40% were ‘neutral’, the groups said.

Carol Matthews, Riverside’s group chief executive, said: “Through this partnership we firmly believe we will be able to do more for our customers, more for our communities, more for our sector, and offer more opportunities for our colleagues.”

Richard Hill, chief executive of One Housing, added: “The journey we’ve taken together over the last 10 months has led to us developing a shared vision of the future based on what our customers have told us matters to them.

“Our journey continues, and there’s still a tremendous amount of work to do over the next two years to make our vision a reality. However, at this important milestone we’d like to thank all our colleagues, partners and customers who have contributed to the process.”