Legal & General (L&G) has hired Rosie Toogood, formerly of Rolls-Royce, as CEO of its modular housing business.
According to the company, L&G is trying to modernise the construction industry with the production of manufactured units through its new factory in the North of England. Its Leeds site can produce up to 3,500 homes per year.
'Almost every other industry has seen radical innovation brought about by digital technology advancements, and yet we continue to build houses the same way that the Victorians did. We need more entrants to the sector, new technologies and business models to deliver the 100,000 shortfall of new homes,' commented Nigel Wilson, L&G's CEO.
'Just as the car industry was automated, so the UK’s traditional house building sector now needs to step up. We need to build houses faster and more efficiently than ever before. Rosie has a mandate to deliver this,' Wilson added.
Joining in mid-June, Toogood arrives from Rolls-Royce where she held senior roles across a number of key customer-facing business areas, leading new product introduction and setting up global supply chains to deliver complex engineering products. She also served for eight years as a non-executive board member of Derwent Housing Association.
Paul Stanworth, CEO of Legal & General Capital (LGC), said: 'Modular building is quicker and more efficient, and delivers at least the same or higher standards of building as traditional methods but with greater certainty. Crucially it is also far less labour intensive, providing additional capacity to the established UK housing sector at a critical time. It offers an economically viable solution and will deliver much needed scale.'
