Read about the winner and shortlisted entries for this year’s Housebuilder of the Year award
Winner: Berkeley Group
In the past year Berkeley Group has continued its focus on brownfield regeneration, reviving underused land to create unique, sustainable and nature-rich places. In fact, 86% of its homes are built on brownfield land, with the firm bringing these isolated sites back into the community and delivering the homes and amenities locals need. This focus has helped the company deliver more than 4,600 mixed-tenure homes in the past 12 months. It also has 60 live sites which it is using for a range of research and development initiatives.
The housebuilder is rolling out a bespoke digital platform that captures the golden thread of key information for every new project, and it is already in place on 39 sites. Meanwhile most of its sites in the past year have incorporated modern methods of construction and – perhaps most significantly given the extensive research, prototyping and testing – the Berkeley Modular factory has produced its first modules.
Berkeley Group has achieved a net promoter score of 77.2 with the Home Builders Federation, greatly exceeding the industry average of 45, while 98% of its customers have said they would recommend the firm to a friend. The company has also had an ongoing focus on quality, with its homes having an average of 1.7 defects reported on completion, based on 2,000 customer surveys, and has been handed Outstanding and Gold awards for customer experience by independent assessors In‑House Research.
The housebuilder has invested £555m in affordable homes and community amenities in the past year and launched its social value tool in autumn 2021. Developed through more than 18 months of research with external experts, the tool helps the company understand the wider social impact of its schemes and has so far completed 13 social value assessments.
The firm has also continued its work through the Berkeley Foundation – which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. Half of the company’s employees contributed to the foundation’s efforts to support local communities, while the foundation donated £3.3m to partner charities. It also established a £900,000 resilience fund to help organisations to future-proof and to recover from the impact of covid-19.
Runner-up
Redrow
Recovering strongly from the impact of covid-19, in the year to June 2021 Redrow’s revenue and legal completions were approaching a return to 2019 levels. The housebuilder added around 8,300 plots with planning permission to current land and entered the new financial year with a record order book. The strength of that order book, ongoing sales, and the increase in average selling prices means Redrow expects 2022 turnover to reach around £2.1bn. This has been boosted by a strategy to grow the business outside London and a strong focus on the housebuilder’s Heritage product as well as on placemaking.
The firm has also worked to meet post-covid buyer demands, with its spacious, predominantly detached new homes lending themselves to buyers’ changing priorities. An independent survey conducted by YouGov for Redrow found that 78% of people now aspire to live in a detached home, reflecting that those spending more time at home, including to work, desire somewhere that is quieter, more spacious and offers greater privacy.
Redrow has also turned its focus to meeting sustainability goals and regulations. While the housebuilder already has an established fabric-first approach to ensure homes are well insulated and energy-efficient and to provide options for people to add solar panels, electric vehicle charging points and other eco-friendly features, it has now begun several trials to strengthen its performance in this essential area. The trials have also been introduced to ensure that its homes are ready to meet the government’s Future Homes Standard.
Redrow has once again retained its Home Builders Federation five-star rating, with 94.5% of customers saying they would recommend the firm to a friend. Its customer satisfaction score has continued to climb year-on-year and the business has maintained an “excellent” rating on Trustpilot too, with an average score of 4.5 from more than 4,000 customer reviews. The housebuilder has introduced new handover policies for finished homes, and its drive is to achieve zero defects in a home at handover. The firm has also continued with updates to My Redrow, its bespoke customer portal, allowing it to better support customers even after they move into their new homes.
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