Julia Pirrie, ARK Senior Development Consultant

One Month In: A Conversation with Senior Development Consultant Julia Pirrie

By Julia Pirrie · 9 February 2026

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

We are delighted to introduce Julia Pirrie, who joined the ARK Consultancy team as a Senior Development Consultant at the start of 2026. With nearly 20 years of experience in affordable housing, Julia brings a wealth of knowledge in land acquisition and end-to-end project delivery.

ARK Marketing Assistant Emily Wilde sat down with Julia to discuss her first month and her outlook on the sector.

Background & Experience

Emily: What is your background in the sector and how did you get into this field?

Julia: I am coming up to 20 years in the affordable housing sector, starting in 2007 as a Development Assistant at Jephson Housing Group. I got that first role completely by chance having moved to Buckinghamshire, after university, for my partner’s job. I spent five years at JHG, completing a two-year trainee position before being promoted to Development Officer. Following a brief pause, I moved to Aldwyck Housing Group as a Project Manager for 3.5 years, and then to bpha for 8.5 years. Whilst with bpha, I progressed from Development Manager to Senior Land Manager in the Land and New Business team before being appointed as Senior Partnerships Manager. In my career to date I have delivered affordable housing across the Midlands and Southern England.

Emily: What kind of projects or programmes have you worked on previously?

Julia: I’ve been really fortunate in my career that it’s been very varied. Whilst I have mainly focused on general needs, I’ve worked on projects that deliver homes for market sale, regeneration projects, older persons/independent living schemes, and rural exception sites. I have managed S106 (Section 106 – legal agreements between local authorities and developers) acquisitions, Joint Venture (JV) and partnership opportunities, as well as land-led schemes. I’ve helped deliver programmes ranging from 300 to 750 homes a year. Most recently, I secured 800 homes for bpha’s programme and worked on an investment partnership to deliver 1,000+ homes on council-owned sites.

Current Work

Emily: What projects are you currently working on at ARK?

Julia: I’m involved in a project with Newport City Council tackling homelessness by acquiring HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupation). I’m also working with Charnwood Borough Council on redeveloping dated supported living schemes and will soon start helping Bromsgrove District Housing Trust build their programme. Additionally, I’m tasked with moving the team over to Optimix appraisal software from Proval.

The Development Sector

Emily: How do you see the sector evolving right now?

Julia: The sector has to evolve to ensure homes meet higher standards of quality such as the Decent Homes Standard with budgets that are being stretched by commitments to improve the quality of their existing homes and increased costs of borrowing. AHPs (Affordable Housing Providers) are having to deliver more with less, delivering homes for those most in need. There is higher public scrutiny regarding quality, and we must be innovative to meet future environmental standards through various measures such as MMC (Modern Methods of Construction) thermal efficiency and alternative heating sources such as ASHPs (Air Source Heat Pumps). The government focus on social rents is interesting; while it definitely helps residents during a cost-of-living crisis, it impacts the ability of AHPs to deliver affordable housing when it has an impact on rental incomes streams and future borrowing capacities. Addressing these various emerging changes creates a need for ARK’s specialist skills to fill gaps AHPs might be experiencing within their own teams.

Emily: What are the most pressing challenges and opportunities today?

Julia: Challenges: Budgets are under pressure- RPs (Registered Providers – social landlords) are having to set aside capital to address bringing homes up to the Decent Homes standards as well as complying with new legislation for Awaab’s Law (legislation regarding damp and mould) and post-Grenfell fire safety requirements rather than delivering new build affordable homes. We also face higher borrowing costs, labour and materials shortages which increases costs of delivery and longstanding delays in the planning system which all impact on the ability of RPs to deliver new affordable homes.

Opportunities: A new HE (Homes England – the government’s housing accelerator) grant programme is due to start, investing £39 billion with the aim to deliver 1.5 million affordable homes over the next ten years. There is a clear central government focus on social rents and high-quality affordable housing which is encouraging and I look forward to hearing the details of the recent announcement of 0.1% interest loans to enable delivery.

Looking Ahead

Emily: What challenges are you most excited to tackle at ARK?

Julia: I will be delivering against all of ARK’s development services, with a particular focus on Land and New Business. I’m looking forward to getting back into end-to-end delivery and helping clients achieve value for money and high-quality products. I’m excited to learn from the experts and associates here at ARK and solve complex problems for our clients.