Allison Homes appoints Chief Operating Officer

Allison Homes has appointed Darren Jones as its Chief Operating Officer. He joined the company on 17 October and will have a key role in driving forward the company’s ambitious growth strategy.

Darren has enjoyed a long and successful career in the house-building industry, starting out as an apprentice carpenter and joiner in London in 1985 and progressing through site management and production management roles with companies like Bryant Homes, Gleeson Homes and Persimmon Homes.

He was chairman of Persimmon’s southern region from 2007-13 and then Divisional Managing Director at Miller Homes, where his role was to grow the Midlands and South businesses, while assisting the CEO in adopting a PLC-style management structure to improve business focus and asset utilisation. This new style of management significantly improved the company’s financial performance, achieving growth in scale, operating margin, ROCE, and IRR.

John Anderson, Group Chief Executive at Allison Homes said, “We’re delighted that Darren has chosen Allison Homes. He brings great experience of the industry and particularly of working in a private equity environment. The company has come a long way in the last year. We have completed our re-brand and invested heavily in improving quality and customer service.  We remain committed to our long-term growth plans across our operating regions and will be opening a new east Midlands region shortly.”

Darren Jones said, “Allison Homes seems to be the perfect combination of housebuilder in the current environment.  Big enough to be very ambitious, but not so corporate that it forgets its customers and stifles innovation.  I love the focus and financial discipline that private equity gives to a business and look forward to bringing my experience – from banging in nails on London building sites in the 1980s to managing large businesses – to help the Allison team on its journey.”

Darren continued, “Whatever the day-to-day ups and downs of the market, this is an industry that will never go out of fashion.  We should always remember that what we produce is simply a response to a basic human need.  We provide people with homes – places to live.  As such we are a service provider, but one that provides something essential.  That’s a privilege and a responsibility.”