MRI HousingBrixx & UK Housing Association Business Planning Software Market¶

Research Date: 18 February 2026
Status: Comprehensive research report (limited by search engine blocks — used direct URL fetching)

1. MRI HousingBrixx — Current Status¶

Still Actively Sold ✅¶

MRI HousingBrixx is still actively marketed and sold by MRI Software. The product page is live at: - Product page: https://www.mrisoftware.com/uk/products/housingbrixx/ - Training page: https://www.mrisoftware.com/uk/products/housingbrixx/training/ - Last sitemap update: 19 April 2024 (product page), 23 July 2024 (training page)

Key Product Claims (from MRI's website)¶

"Used by over 370 social housing providers to support their strategic decision-making processes"
"3M+ properties are modelled using our strategic forecasting software"
"Market-leading financial modelling and business planning tool"
Available as SaaS (hosted option, no implementation/upgrade admin required)
~300 intelligent "building block" objects (non-breakable, unlike spreadsheet formulas)
~50 financial, treasury and operational reports
6 standard dashboards with ~50 graphs including VfM metrics
FFR and SHR legislation compliance built-in
Social Housing SORP-aligned reporting
"Best practice modelling methods recognised by housing regulators and lenders"
Instant "one-click" consolidation of plans from different sections

The housingbrixx.com Domain is Dead ✅ Confirmed¶

DNS lookup for www.housingbrixx.com fails (ENOTFOUND)
Wayback Machine last capture: 7 December 2021 — was already redirecting to an IP-based parking page
The product is now exclusively marketed through mrisoftware.com

Branding¶

The product is called "MRI HousingBrixx" or simply "HousingBrixx" within MRI's portfolio. On the finance management solutions page, it's listed as just "HousingBrixx" alongside OpenAccounts, Advanced Financials, Component Accounting, Income Analytics, Service Charges, and Secure Sign.

Customer Testimonial (from MRI's site)¶

"Using spreadsheets is complex and error-prone, and we had little confidence in presenting the forecasts to the Board. Now, it's a different story – and furthermore, on a hosted platform, MRI's financial modelling software is easy to use with all updates taken care of for us through the service provided."
— Paul Whitehead, Head of Finance and Resources, Blackpool Housing Company

2. Acquisition History — Full Timeline¶

The Two Brixx Companies (Important Distinction)¶

Entity	Company #	Current Name	Status	Notes
Brixx Solutions Limited	04424822	Castleton Financial Modelling Solutions Ltd	Dissolved 13 Jul 2021	The housing product company
Brixx Technologies Limited	04431104	Brixx Technologies Limited	Active	The SME forecasting company (brixx.com)

Both incorporated within days of each other in April-May 2002 (Brixx Solutions: 25 Apr 2002; Brixx Technologies: 3 May 2002). Brixx Technologies was originally called "Piermount Limited" until 11 Jun 2002.

Brixx Solutions → Castleton → MRI Timeline¶

2002: Brixx Solutions Limited (04424822) incorporated 25 April 2002. Originally called "Earlsbane Limited" until 11 June 2002. Directors: Barrie James Baxter (Canadian, b. Sep 1959, Shiplake, Oxfordshire) and Robin Wilfred Ian Lodge (British, Switzerland).

2002-2015: Operated as Brixx Solutions Limited, building housing association financial modelling software. Barrie and Julia Baxter ran the company.

March 2015: Julia Frances Baxter appointed as director (16 March 2015).

31 May 2015: Both Baxters resign as directors. New Castleton directors appointed: - Haywood Trefor Chapman (from 100 Fetter Lane, London — Castleton's address) - Davinder Kaur Sanghera (from 100 Fetter Lane) - Andrew Ian Smith (from 100 Fetter Lane)

18 November 2015: Company renamed from "BRIXX SOLUTIONS LIMITED" to "CASTLETON FINANCIAL MODELLING SOLUTIONS LTD"

2015-2017: Operated within Castleton Technology Group. Dean Robert Dickinson joined as director (31 Oct 2016). Sanghera resigned (Jan 2017), Smith resigned (Jul 2017).

By March 2017: Company filing dormant accounts — suggesting the software/team had been absorbed into the broader Castleton Technology group, with the legal entity retained as a shell.

Castleton Technology PLC (03336134): - Originally Cienbe Limited (1997) → Redstone Telecom PLC (1997) → Redstone PLC (2001) → Castleton Technology PLC (21 Nov 2013) - AIM-listed technology company focused on social housing software - Key address: 100 Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1BN (later Walbrook Building)

MRI Software Acquisition of Castleton (2020)¶

4 June 2020: MRI Software directors appointed to Castleton Financial Modelling Solutions Ltd: - John Adler Ensign (American, b. May 1972) - Patrick Joseph Ghilani (American, b. Jan 1971)
- Roman Telerman (American, b. Feb 1986)

All three at MRI's address: 9 King Street, London EC2V 8EA

Castleton directors Chapman and Dickinson resigned same date.

24 July 2020: Castleton Technology PLC (03336134) renamed to "Castleton Technology Limited" — confirming de-listing from AIM and going private under MRI ownership.

17 September 2020: Castleton Financial Modelling Solutions Ltd registered office changed to 9 King Street (MRI's London HQ).

November 2020: castletonplc.com was already redirecting to mrisoftware.com/uk/solutions/social-housing/

14 April 2021: Application to strike off Castleton Financial Modelling Solutions Ltd.

13 July 2021: Company officially dissolved.

Current Corporate Structure¶

Castleton Technology Limited (03336134) — Active, at 9 King Street, London EC2V 8EA (MRI's address). Nature of business: "Activities of head offices." This is likely the main UK operating entity for MRI's social housing division.
Castleton Technology Holdings Limited (05043538) — Dissolved 29 March 2022
Castleton Technology Intermediate Holding Company Limited (06517747) — Dissolved 29 March 2022
Castleton Managed Services Ltd (02167037, formerly "Castleton Technology Managed Services") — Dissolved 29 July 2025

The Original Brixx Team¶

Barrie James Baxter (founder) — Canadian, based in Shiplake, Oxfordshire (near Henley-on-Thames, notably close to Brixx Technologies' current address at Badgemore House, Badgemore Park, Henley-on-Thames RG9 4NR)
Both Baxters left 31 May 2015 when Castleton took control
The proximity of Brixx Technologies' registered address to Baxter's home suggests the two companies may have shared founders or were closely related

3. MRI Software UK Housing Portfolio¶

Overview¶

MRI claims to be the UK's most comprehensive social housing software provider: - 850+ social housing clients in the UK and Ireland - 82% of social housing units across UK & Ireland are supported by MRI - 45+ years of experience in the sector

Housing & Tenancy Management: - MRI Housing Management Enterprise — Core HMS, the "most complete housing management system for social housing." 40+ years old. Includes rent accounting, tenancy management, CRM, repairs booking, allocations, service charges, ASB management, etc. - MRI Housing One — Formerly Capita One Housing (acquired from Capita). Cloud-based, for local authorities and housing associations. 1M+ residents managed. - MRI Customer Central — CRM solution - MRI Safer Communities — ASB management

Finance Management: - OpenAccounts — Enterprise finance system, 25,000+ users. Purchase-to-pay, requisitions, expenses, reporting. - MRI Advanced Financials — Cloud/SaaS finance and purchase-to-pay (newer, modern alternative) - MRI HousingBrixx — Strategic financial modelling and business planning (370+ providers, 3M+ properties) - Component Accounting — Fixed asset depreciation per SORP/FRS 102 - Income Analytics — ML-powered arrears prediction and management - Service Charges — Leaseholder billing compliance

Asset & Repairs: - MRI Housing Asset Management - MRI AccuServ — Repairs and maintenance - MRI Evolution — Contractor management, mobile workforce, IoT hub - MRI Planet — Asset/facilities management - MRI Inspect — Inspections

Housing Options: - MRI Allocations — Waiting lists, choice-based lettings - MRI Homelessness Reduction — Statutory compliance - MRI Rough Sleeper Pathways - MRI Alert — S213b Duty-to-Refer - Housing Jigsaw — Housing register and allocations

Digital: - Resident Portal — Self-service - SMS Communications Manager - Housing Document Management - MRI Engage — Engagement platform - Secure Sign — Electronic signatures - Homeswapper — Mutual exchange

Data & Reporting: - MRI Agora Insights — Unified dashboards for TSM reporting - Tenancy Analytics - Report Gateway - Reporting & Analytics

Other: - MRI Horizon — Property management (used by RBKC) - MRI Qube PM — Property management - Accommodation Rent Accounting - Revenues and Benefits

Acquisition History Forming This Portfolio¶

MRI has been on an aggressive acquisition spree: - Castleton Technology (2020) — Brought HousingBrixx, OpenAccounts, managed services, ActiveH (now part of Housing Management Enterprise) - Capita One Housing (date unclear) — Became MRI Housing One - Various other acquisitions for individual products

4. Competitor Landscape for HA Business Planning¶

The Core Problem¶

Housing associations need to produce 30-year financial forecasts (business plans) for: - Board decision-making - Regulatory compliance (FFR submission to RSH) - Lender covenants and credit rating agencies - Stress testing and scenario modelling

Known Competitors / Alternatives¶

1. MRI HousingBrixx — Market leader - 370+ HA clients - 3M+ properties modelled - The only major purpose-built commercial solution confirmed still active

2. Microsoft Excel — The main "competitor" - MRI's marketing explicitly positions against Excel - Many smaller HAs and some larger ones still use bespoke spreadsheet models - Known issues: formula breakage, human error, slow consolidation, poor audit trail, single-person dependency

3. Treasury Advisors (build/recommend models): - Arlingclose — Treasury management advisor to HAs since 2013. Services include funding, risk management, economic forecasting, project appraisal. They don't appear to sell business planning software per se, but advise on financial strategies and may build custom models. - Centrus Advisors — Treasury and financial advisory to HAs (website unreachable during research) - Link Group (formerly Capita Asset Services) — Treasury advisory - Savills — Financial advisory and development consultancy for HAs

4. Consulting Firms (bespoke models): - KPMG, Deloitte, Mazars, BDO, RSM — Build custom Excel-based or proprietary business plan models for larger HAs - Savills Financial Consultants — Housing-specific advisory - JLL — Real estate advisory

5. Other Potential Software: - Promaster — Domain (promaster.co.uk) is dead (DNS failure). Likely defunct or acquired. - SD1 — Now a generic web development company ("LIFE IS NOW"). No housing software evident. - Proval — Not found as a UK housing product

Key Observation: The market appears to be dominated by MRI HousingBrixx vs. Excel, with treasury advisors and consulting firms filling gaps with custom work. There is no clearly visible #2 commercial software product specifically for HA business planning.

5. Regulatory Requirements Driving the Market¶

The RSH regulates all registered providers of social housing in England. Key requirements relevant to business planning:

Financial Forecast Return (FFR)¶

Who must submit: All private registered providers owning 1,000 or more social housing units
Deadline: 30 June each year (for providers with 31 March year-end). Providers encouraged to submit within 6 weeks of board approval if earlier.
What's required: FFR must be accompanied by business plan and other supporting documentation
Submission via: NROSH+ portal (nroshplus.regulatorofsocialhousing.org.uk)

Other Mandatory Returns (for large providers, 1,000+ units)¶

Return	Frequency	Deadline
Statistical Data Return (SDR)	Annual	31 May
Financial Forecast Return + business plan	Annual	30 June
Quarterly Survey	Quarterly	3 weeks after quarter end
Electronic Annual Accounts	Annual	6 months after FY end
Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM)	Annual	30 June
Fire Safety Remediation Survey	Quarterly	Various

Governance and Financial Viability Standard (2015)¶

One of 3 economic standards. Requires providers to: - Maintain financial viability and sufficient liquidity - Have an effective risk management and internal controls assurance framework - Communicate with the regulator "in an accurate and timely manner" - Late/incomplete/inaccurate submissions may be treated as breach of standard

Sector Risk Profile 2025 — Key Themes¶

The RSH's November 2025 Sector Risk Profile highlights: - Low-headroom environment — Many landlords operating with very little margin for error - Fire safety remediation — Major cost burden, especially London/urban - Record spend on stock improvements — Damp and mould, Decent Homes Standard review - Higher debt refinancing costs — Fixed-term debt maturing at higher rates - Labour cost inflation and construction shortages - Weaker housing market — Impacting surplus from market sales - Stress testing requirements — Boards must stress test for external shocks - Governance as key theme — "Good governance has never been more important" - 1.3 million people on social housing waiting lists

Post-2024 Regulatory Pressures¶

Awaab's Law (from October 2025) — Strict timescales for damp/mould response (10 days to investigate, 3 days for written findings, start remedial works). Creates significant cost and planning implications.
Building Safety Act — Ongoing remediation requirements
Decent Homes Standard review — Potential new investment requirements
TSM reporting — New transparency requirements since April 2023
Consumer Standards (from April 2024) — Including Safety and Quality Standard requiring physical assessment data for every home

All of these create additional financial pressures that must be modelled in 30-year business plans, increasing the complexity and importance of financial modelling tools.

6. Market Sizing¶

Number of Housing Associations with 1,000+ Homes¶

These are "large providers" who must submit FFR + business plan: - The RSH publishes a monthly register of all registered providers (latest: 16 February 2026) - Estimated ~200-250 private registered providers with 1,000+ homes (based on sector structure — the RSH distinguishes "large" from "small" at the 1,000-unit threshold) - Plus ~165 local authority registered providers (though they have different, lighter requirements) - The sector has approximately 2.5 million social homes in England owned by private registered providers

Total Addressable Market Estimate¶

Core market (large private RPs, 1,000+ units): - ~200-250 organisations - MRI claims 370+ HousingBrixx users (may include smaller providers who voluntarily use it, or count includes group members separately) - If MRI has 370+ clients, and there are ~200-250 large RPs, MRI likely has near-monopoly penetration among large providers, plus significant penetration among medium-sized ones

Pricing estimates (educated guesses — no public pricing found): - SaaS model with annual licensing - Likely tiered by number of units/complexity - Estimated £10,000-£50,000+ per annum for a medium-to-large HA - Training separately charged (MRI has dedicated HousingBrixx training pages) - Implementation/setup fees additional

TAM estimate: - 370+ clients × estimated £15,000-25,000 average annual licence = £5.5M-£9.3M annual revenue - Including training, implementation, consulting: potentially £8M-£15M total market - This is a niche but sticky market with high switching costs

MRI's Market Position¶

MRI claims 82% of social housing units in UK & Ireland are supported by their software (across all products, not just HousingBrixx)
850+ social housing clients total
HousingBrixx specifically: 370+ providers
This suggests near-dominant market position with limited competition

7. Pain Points & Opportunities¶

Known Pain Points (from MRI's own marketing and sector context)¶

1. Excel dependency: - Many HAs still use spreadsheets for some or all modelling - "Complex and error-prone" with "little confidence in presenting forecasts to the Board" - Formula breakage, single-person dependency, poor audit trail - Slow consolidation of multi-entity groups

2. Increasing regulatory complexity: - FFR requirements evolving - Multiple new compliance burdens (Awaab's Law, Building Safety, TSM, Decent Homes) - Each adds new variables to model - Stress testing requirements becoming more demanding

3. Low financial headroom: - RSH warns many landlords operating with "very little margin for error" - Makes accurate forecasting critical - Wrong assumptions = covenant breach, credit downgrade

4. Post-acquisition concerns (common in sector M&A): - Castleton was already an acquirer before MRI bought them - MRI has been rolling up multiple products (ActiveH, Orchard, Capita One Housing, etc.) - Customer concerns about: product investment, support quality, integration pain, price increases - The dissolution of the Castleton Financial Modelling Solutions Ltd entity (2021) and multiple Castleton holding companies (2022, 2025) suggests ongoing corporate simplification

5. Potential market gaps: - No obvious modern cloud-native competitor to HousingBrixx - The "370+ providers" claim vs. total market suggests some HAs are NOT using it (using Excel or consultant-built models instead) - Modern UX expectations may not be met by a product with roots in pre-2015 software - Integration with modern data pipelines, APIs, real-time data feeds - AI/ML-enhanced forecasting (MRI has this for arrears via Income Analytics but not clear for business planning)

8. Key Findings Summary¶

MRI HousingBrixx is alive and actively sold — despite housingbrixx.com being dead, the product is well-marketed on mrisoftware.com with 370+ clients
Near-monopoly position — There is no clearly visible direct commercial competitor. The main alternative is Excel/consultants.
Acquisition timeline confirmed:
May 2015: Castleton Technology bought Brixx Solutions (directors changed, company renamed Nov 2015)
June 2020: MRI Software acquired Castleton Technology (MRI directors appointed 4 June 2020, Castleton PLC converted to Ltd 24 July 2020)
Regulatory tailwinds are strong — Increasing complexity of FFR, stress testing, Awaab's Law, Building Safety Act, consumer standards all drive need for better modelling tools
Market is small but sticky — ~200-250 core buyers (large RPs), estimated £8-15M total market, high switching costs
Potential disruption opportunity exists — Monopoly incumbent with acquisition-driven growth, aging product architecture, increasing customer complexity needs. A modern SaaS challenger could find willing buyers, especially among the ~30-50% of large RPs not currently using HousingBrixx.

Sources & URLs¶

MRI HousingBrixx product page: https://www.mrisoftware.com/uk/products/housingbrixx/
MRI Social Housing solutions: https://www.mrisoftware.com/uk/solutions/social-housing/
MRI Finance Management: https://www.mrisoftware.com/uk/solutions/social-housing/finance-management/
Companies House — Castleton Financial Modelling Solutions Ltd: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04424822
Companies House — Brixx Technologies Ltd: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04431104
Companies House — Castleton Technology Ltd (fka PLC): https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03336134
RSH — Information required from registered providers: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/information-required-from-registered-providers
RSH — Governance and Financial Viability Standard: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-and-financial-viability-standard
RSH — Sector Risk Profile 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sector-risk-profile-2025
RSH — Registered providers list: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/registered-providers-of-social-housing
Arlingclose — Housing Associations: https://www.arlingclose.com/services/housing-associations
Wayback Machine — housingbrixx.com: https://web.archive.org/web/20211207223009/http://housingbrixx.com/
Wayback Machine — castletonplc.com: https://web.archive.org/web/20201130084728/https://www.castletonplc.com/

Research Limitations¶

No search engine access — Brave Search API key not configured; DuckDuckGo and Bing both blocked automated queries with CAPTCHAs
Could not search for: LinkedIn posts, Reddit discussions, Inside Housing articles (paywalled), NHF/CIH content, specific customer reviews
Could not access UK Digital Marketplace (redirected to login)
Promaster and Centrus websites were unreachable
Pricing information for HousingBrixx not publicly available
Exact number of large RPs (1,000+ units) not confirmed — would need the RSH Excel spreadsheet download