But how common is it to sign a contract 12 to 18 months in advance?

If the market is buoyant and there's substantial activity with the housing associations, I would be more inclined to wait and then go out to market. However, given the current tightening of the market, as we've already discussed with housing associations, Countryside might want certainty that they can place these schemes with a housing association. They may prefer to go early to secure the housing association's capacity, rather than waiting until a few months before the scheme is ready and risk finding no available housing association. It's a judgment call, really. There's no definitive right or wrong approach, it's about assessing the market conditions.

What would those advantages be?

Greater scale, essentially. If you have a larger scale between yourselves, you become more important to each other. This should lead to quicker resolution of issues as they tend to be handled at a higher level. However, in my experience, coordination between the divisions is challenging, and divisional relationships are still necessary unless you're going to assign a dedicated national person to work with one national RP across all schemes. Even then, the divisions and regions will want some control over their schemes.

Could you expand on that for me?

Each region or division has its own targets to meet. I'm not sure about the current bonus structure, but when I was there, it was directly tied to the performance of your region. If your region did well, you received a bonus. If it didn't, you didn't get a bonus. I believe Vistry might have a more centralized approach, but it's generally more region-driven. Each Managing Director is in charge of their own targets.