King’s New Year Honours 2023: Hill Group CEO Andy Hill is made an OBE for services to affordable housing
Andy Hill, group chief executive of house builder The Hill Group, is made an OBE for services to affordable housing in the New Year honours list.
Andy was the founder of the family-owned developer in 1999 but it was in that same year that, with a young family, he had been made redundant and they feared they would lose their home.
That personal experience led Hill to mark its 20th anniversary by announcing that it would donate 200 modular homes for the homeless - a financial commitment of more than £12million - beginning with 20 homes Cambridge, and these have been installed in the Chesterton and the Abbey areas.
Hill, which is delivering the initiative through a charitable trust called Hill Group Foundation, has been working in partnership with homelessness charity Jimmy’s and Cambridge City Council.
Speaking to the Cambridge Independent in January 2020, Andy said: “Homelessness is a growing crisis which I feel very passionately about and it is particularly bleak at this time of year. Life-changing events affect us all in different ways and over the years I have learnt to appreciate it can affect more than those who come from deprived backgrounds in the first place.
“After celebrating our 20th year of building homes at Hill, I want to give something back and create real opportunities for people who are living on the streets, to help turn their lives around. The whole business is taking huge pride in delivering these initiatives, and while we will not solve the problem today, we are taking a big step in the right direction which we hope others will follow.”
[Read more:
Four more modular homes opened in Cambridge by Hill, Jimmy’s and council]
The modular homes have 25 square metres of floor space, with separate living and cooking, sleeping and bathroom areas, and give each occupant their own front door. They are designed to last 60 years and are furnished, fully equipped and ready to into, and provide an independent space for those who are seeking to rebuild their lives following a period of homelessness.
Hill is now the third largest privately-owned UK housebuilder and was a pioneer in developing public and private sector partnerships. Established in 2017, Cambridge Investment Partnership is an equal partnership between Hill Investment Partnerships and Cambridge City Council and addresses the housing shortage across Cambridge by providing high-quality, brand new council homes and market sale homes, commercial and community facilities.
Hill’s ongoing developments in Cambridge include Knights Park in Eddington, Ironworks, Timber Works and Marleigh.
