Pictured above: Rob Moore, Partnering & Development Manager, Lovell Midlands watches as Hayley Davies, Executive Director, Daventry & District Housing, cuts the ribbon on Lovell's new Daventry office

Forty Daventry jobs are now safe thanks to housing regeneration specialist Lovell. The company has opened its first office in Daventry, taking on employees previously employed by construction firm Connaught, which collapsed in September. Lovell was engaged by Daventry & District Housing to complete the outstanding period on the contract left by Connaught's demise. After completing work in around 100 homes since September, Lovell is now looking forward to tackling another 1,500 homes in the next 15 months.

"We were delighted that Daventry & District Housing chose to work with us," said Rob Moore, Partnering & Development Manager at Lovell Midlands. "With 108 homes part of the way through being refurbished up to the Government's Decent Homes standards, it was crucial that we got things moving as quickly as possible. By taking on most existing on-site and off-site staff, continuing to work with local sub-contractors and by liaising closely with the residents themselves, we were able to get the work done quickly and to a high standard."

Lovell will begin the next phase of Decent Homes improvements on 4 January 2011, delivering improvement works to over 1000 homes in 2011. Jonathan Hern, Major Improvement Programme Manager at Daventry & District Housing, said:

"The fact that Lovell has opened this office in Daventry is a sure sign that they intend to immerse themselves in the area and work hard to meet local needs. We have been impressed by their commitment to keeping our home improvement programme on track and we look forward to continuing to work in partnership with them."