Wates has struck a deal with the social housing provider ForHousing to buy its in-house £100m-plus revenue repair and maintenance specialist Liberty.

The property maintenance specialist brings a strong heating and compliance skills base. It’s 1,100 staff will join the Wates Property Services team of 1,900 staff.

The now expanded property services division will now account for half of the 6,000 staff employed by Wates Group.

Liberty is headquartered in Knowsley, Merseyside, and has five other core centres of operation: Manchester, Leeds, Portsmouth, Havant and Cardiff.

In last published accounts the firm generated a £1m pre-tax profit from around £109m turnover.

Managing director, David Morgan, said: “We’ve been actively seeking a specialist property support business to expand and strengthen our existing expertise in the social housing sector, and extend our range of services into the areas of heating and compliance, as well as renewable energy services.

“In Liberty, we’ve found the strategic fit we were looking for, so I’m delighted to be able to make this announcement.”

Group managing director of Liberty, Ray Jones, said: “Our combined service provision brings a stronger offer to both existing and potential clients, especially in property and renewable energy decarbonisation; services to which Liberty and Wates are strongly connected.”

Liberty will continue to trade under its own name as part of Wates Property Services.