CHESTER-le-Street’s biggest landlord has teamed up with another housing provider to form a new group.

Cestria Community Housing, which has 4,500 properties in the area, has partnered with Isos Housing to form the Isos Housing Group.

The two organisations will operate autonomously day to day but will share some central services.

They say the move will save about £6 million in the first five years of working together and £2 million every year after that.

The new group has guaranteed no compulsory redundancies for two years.

Cestria chief executive Paul Fiddaman, who becomes deputy chief executive of the Isos Housing Group, said: “There is a natural fit between our two businesses, both in geography and in our values as organisations.

“Until now, the largest concentrations of Isos Group homes have been on Tyneside and in Northumberland. So adding the 4,500 homes owned and managed by Cestria to the group makes perfect sense, to expand the group’s reach further into County Durham.

“We are both organisations which take our roles as employers very seriously, and we share a strong commitment to our communities, beyond simply maintaining the bricks and mortar of our homes.”