Who we are

First Garden Cities Homes is a charitable housing association managing over 2,000 affordable homes across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Formed in 2020 from the merger of two long-standing local housing providers, we combine over 170 years of experience rooted in the Garden City movement. Today, we are a forward-looking, community-focused organisation with a strong development programme. Backed by a top regulatory rating, robust finances, and a committed team, we are delivering on an ambitious strategy to meet local housing needs and continue our legacy of providing high-quality, affordable homes where people can thrive.

 

Publications of interest

Below is a list of useful documents:

 

Our Board

  • Richard Laval
    Chair

    Richard is European Technical Operations manager for a large cybersecurity company. He has previous board experience at a 4,000-unit housing association in Hertfordshire including five years as Chairman. In addition, he was a local councillor for 16 years and chaired various committees during that time including Audit, Resources and Maintenance.

  • Alan Humphreys
    Audit & Risk Committee Chair

    Alan recently retired as Chief Executive of Grand Union Housing Group after 18 year years in the role. He is a qualified accountant with extensive experience of the housing sector, including six years as a housing consultant.

  • Alison Jeffers
    Asset & Operations Committee Chair

    Alison is an experienced executive and non-executive director, having spent over 30 years working in the energy and telecommunication sectors. She has deep technology and delivery expertise in regulated industries with a particular interest in leadership, governance, and the delivery of complex change. Expert in managing large scale IT, energy and telecom infrastructure project portfolios having held senior positions at Landis+Gyr, Vodafone and Verizon. Having stepped away from full time operational roles, she is developing a NED portfolio and is also a board member of the Plunkett Foundation, a charity supporting rural community businesses.

  • Alessandra Mongiardino
    Board Member

    Alessandra is an accomplished executive and independent Non-executive Director with over 25 years of international Risk Management experience having held senior roles in large banks and asset management firms. She is a Non-Executive Director at Triodos Bank UK, a member of the Financial Services Faculty Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the former Director of Financial and Strategic Risk at NatWest.

  • Craig Horn
    Development & Finance Committee Chair

    Craig has over 20 years’ experience of working within the housing development sector. His experience includes working for a number of large housing associations as well as Affordable Housing consultancy and a Local Authority development company.

  • Jo Savage
    Board member

    As chief executive of Greatwell Homes, Jo brings her wealth of experience to the Board. Jo is the former Chair of the National Housing Federation in the East Midlands and Women In Social Housing (WISH), and an experienced non-executive director, currently at Eastlight Community Homes and First Garden Cities Homes.

  • Lawrence Shulman
    Board Member

    Lawrence is a Project Supervisor with the National Grid. He is responsible for working on critical infrastructure projects in and around high-voltage electricity transmission assets.

  • Matthew Evans
    Remuneration, Nomination & Governance Committee Chair

    Matthew is the Head of Risk & Assurance for a London based Housing Association where he is responsible for enterprise risk management, internal audit, and regulatory compliance. He’s a qualified internal auditor and has a Masters in Corporate Governance.

  • Moreen Pascal
    Board member

    Moreen has developed and led business support, charity sector and local government services, where her focus has been on social justice and social mobility, leadership and workforce development initiatives. She currently manages the national staff mentoring programme and supports board member development programmes at Housing Diversity Network.

  • Natasha Valladares
    Board member

    Natasha is a senior leader at a large regional authority managing multi-million-pound capital and revenue investment programmes. She has experience across the public sector in strategy development and implementation, service improvement and programme delivery with a particular focus on reducing housing inequality.

  • Simon Latson
    Board Member

    Simon is a Chartered Building Surveyor and has been involved in the surveying and development of residential housing for the last 20 years. He is Head of Building Consultancy - Living at a large multi-national practice and advises both the public and private sectors.

  • Tracy Allison
    Board Member

    Tracy is the CEO of West Kent Housing Association. She is an experienced Board Member with 10 years’ experience having sat on a number of Boards including St Mungos and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Our Leadership Team

You can find more about our Leadership Team here