David Cowans has joined sustainable development business Human Nature as chairman of the board.
The former Places for People chief executive has joined as the developer prepares to submit a planning application for its first major development, the Phoenix neighbourhood in Lewes, East Sussex.
Cowans will be instrumental in bringing forward the Phoenix plans, which detail a 700-home, mixed-tenure and mixed-use brownfield development, intended to be the most regenerative and lowest-carbon neighbourhood in Europe.
Cowans said: “It feels like we have been rehearsing for this moment all our professional lives: to fulfil the potential of place to address the greatest challenges of our time, inspiring and enabling all to live well and sustainably, while building a wonderfully optimistic and positive business.”
Cowans retired from PfP earlier this year, having led it for more than two decades. He transformed the business into a housing association with more than 219,000 homes under management and took turnover from £110m to £827m, generating a profit before tax of £95.5m and a balance sheet of £4.9bn.
Human Nature chief executive and co-founder Jonathan Smales, a former Greenpeace director, said: “I have had the great pleasure of knowing David for 20 years, and to have the opportunity to work alongside him when he is at the peak of his powers is hugely exciting for me personally and for the business.”
Cowans will share the chair with co-founder Michael Manolson, also a former Greenpeace director.
Human Nature plans to design and build intrinsically sustainable places and communities, delivered at the neighbourhood and village scale.
Smales added: “The old models of development have to die quickly. New models that can scale at pace to become the new mainstream and deliver the outcomes we need to heal social divisions, regenerate nature and help take us out of the climate emergency have to win. David knows a lot about winning. There is no role for business as usual.”
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