David Shelton now runs his own building software supplier, but in 1990 he set up Crest Nicholson’s social housing operation as a response to the falling market. “In 1990 it became clear things were getting pretty serious and it was felt that social housing provided an opportunity that we could exploit,” he says. “By immersing myself in it I got to understand what housing associations did, why they did it, how and what they wanted. “We started a company dedicated to social housing with the object to sell land to associations and build for them. “It took us deep inside their world and we tried to align our company with them because of their design and standards demanded. We worked as partners, which is normal now but was unusual then.” Crest’s social housing arm, Pearce Partnerships, was part of traditional contractor Pearce Construction, which it then owned.<br><br>“The idea was to give it a friendlier image than Crest might have had as a speculative builder,” Shelton points out. “It was successful. A lot of developers were seen as fair weather friends by housing associations and they left the sector when the private market recovered, but Crest did stay with it.” Housing …