Lar Housing Trust appoints Mikko Ramstedt as chief executive

He takes over at the helm of the housing charity from Ann Leslie, who is stepping down after steering the organisation from launch to its 10th anniversary last month.

Ramstedt is currently Lar’s chief operating officer and managing director of its subsidiary, Lar Operations Community Interest Company (CIC). He took up his new role on 1 November and will also remain as MD of the CIC.

He joined Lar initially as director of finance & corporate services in 2018, moving from Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), where he was part of the specialist housing team that developed the business case for Lar for Scottish Government approval.

Lar’s chair, Ken Macintosh, said: “Mikko has been involved with Lar from the very beginning and was one of the architects behind its pathfinding loan-based financial model. He has a deep understanding of Lar, its aims and ethos and has been instrumental in its success at both SFT before our launch and as part of the senior management team for the last seven years.

“His knowledge of the housing sector, his innovative thinking and the care he shows for our tenants all ensure that we will remain at the forefront of efforts to tackle the shortage of high-quality affordable homes across Scotland. I have no doubt he is the ideal person to take the helm at Lar and I greatly look forward to working closely with him as we enter the next stage of our development.”

Ramstedt moves into the top job at an important stage of the charity’s development, with its first pipeline of funding now fully spent or allocated. Lar launched with a £55 million loan from the Scottish Government, later supplemented by £65m of private finance from Scottish Widows/Bank of Scotland.

He said: “Lar was set up to prove a concept that a different financial model of loan-based rather than grant funding could deliver more affordable homes across the country. Our recent 10th anniversary was a timely moment to reflect on our incredible success so far and I look forward to building on that in the future.

“We have a dedicated and talented staff team and our immediate focus is to tackle a number of complex regeneration projects that will bring life to abandoned buildings and create new communities.”