Later-living communities operator and developer Inspired Villages has appointed Stephen Halliwell as chief financial officer, effective from January 2022. 

For the past five years Halliwell has been chief financial officer at Legal & General Capital (LGC) and previously worked in leadership roles at FTSE100 and FTSE250 companies.

The appointment follows Legal & General’s 15-year joint venture partnership with NatWest Group Pension Fund, the defined benefit pension scheme of NatWest Group, which is investing £500 million of equity to build later-living communities to be developed and operated by Inspired Villages. The joint venture will create a portfolio of 34 sites, comprising around 5,100 homes catering to 8,000 residents, with an estimated gross development value of about £4 billion.

In his role of chief financial officer at LGC Halliwell has played a part in Inspired Villages’ growth, holding directorships in its property companies and, latterly, its operating company. During this time, he helped increase the size of LGC’s direct investment portfolio from around £1 billion to £3.5 billion and built a scalable platform which is creating pipelines of investable assets.

Prior to LGC, from 1998, Halliwell was chief financial officer at 3i Infrastructure, a group focused on UK and European infrastructure investments.

Jamie Bunce, chief executive of Inspired Villages said: “I am thrilled to welcome Stephen to the Inspired Villages team. I am confident he offers the technical skills and experience necessary to support our growth plans as well as help us to invest in the development of our talented people and business processes. Amongst other things he has previously been FCA-regulated, with approvals to manage third party capital in various capacities. He also brings with him a strong proven track record and passion for developing people and building out leading finance platforms – experience that will stand us in good stead as we continue to evolve our business offer.”

Halliwell commented: “I am delighted to be joining Inspired Village at this exciting point in its growth. Having recently established a landmark joint venture with NatWest Group Pension Fund which aims to deliver around £4 billion of GDV, I am excited to be playing a leading role in helping the business meet its significant growth ambitions whilst it also looks to deliver the UK’s first two net zero carbon later-living communities and meet the fast-growing need for specialist later-living accommodation.”