Housebuilder confidential

Barratt Homes

Facts and figures

The group turned over £2.5bn for the year ending June 2004 and built 14,021 homes, of which 1300 were affordable. During the same period the company made a £367.7m pre-tax profit, an impressive rise of 16% on the previous year. Barratt has 56,355 plots in its landbank meaning it could happily build at its 2004 rate for the next four years without acquiring new land. With a staff of 4578, the group runs 32 divisions across the UK. The average Barratt home sells for £166,000.

Head honchos

Charles Toner is chairman and David Pretty is chief executive and both have made clear their ambition to ensure Barratt remains the country’s largest housebuilder by volume. Pretty also places an emphasis on the group’s interest in regeneration, citing the fact that more than 80% of Barratt homes are built on brownfield sites. As he puts it: “We have been in regeneration for 25 years, long before the government made it fashionable.” When Barratt’s annual results were announced last September, Pretty said he expected to undertake £500m worth of work in the social housing sector by 2007.

Reputation

Barratt has taken some high-profile knocks in recent years. It came bottom in a 2003 national customer satisfaction survey by the Housing Forum, a body that promotes innovation in construction, and was then named and shamed as having poor environmental credentials in the World Wildlife Fund report Building Towards Sustainability in early 2004. But Barratt has earned industry praise for its use of brownfield land and won Greenleaf awards for environmentally sensitive developments for the past two years.

Secret weapon

A massive landbank, which has more plots with planning permission than any other housebuilder.

Bellway

Facts and figures

In its results for the year to 31 July 2004, Bellway hit a pre-tax profit of £205m – a cool 21.4% rise on the previous year. Turnover rose to just over £1bn during the same period and the group sold 6610 homes, including 566 affordable houses. It has a total of 20,700 plots in its landbank and says it aims to build 10,000 homes a year by 2010. Bellway employs about 1700 staff across its 14 regional offices. The average Bellway house sells for £161,400.

Head honchos

Howard Dawe is non-executive chairman and John Watson is chief executive officer. Watson often talks of the group’s continuing objective to strengthen its relationship with government agencies and housing associations. He says: “This [social housing] section of the business will continue to grow in the future as planning permissions are granted, particularly in the South-east, imposing 30% to 50% social housing content.”

Reputation

In the past two years Bellway has effectively shifted its focus to urban regeneration and industry insiders say the group has really “taken off” since it placed more interest in this sector. Alongside the Barking Reach project, Bellway is a lead developer on several other regeneration schemes, including the housing renewal pathfinder at Sefton in Liverpool and another large scheme in Solihull, Birmingham, where it will work in partnership with Whitefriars Housing Group. Whereas most volume housebuilders are seen as relatively new to social housing (their relationship with housing associations having been forged mainly through section 106 agreements), Bellway is considered a relatively experienced social housing provider.

Secret weapon

A wide regional spread and a focus on lower- to middle-value homes, which are more in demand than luxury houses.

Countryside properties

Facts and figures

Countryside’s profits fell 55% to £16.1m on a turnover of £368.4m for the year ending 30 September 2004. The developer, which tends to build middle- to higher-value homes, blamed its gloomy results on lower demand for homes over the £300,000 mark in London and the South-east. Countryside sold 915 homes in the same period – 17% fewer than expected. The company directors are now organising a management buyout that would result in the PLC becoming a private company. Countryside employs 850 staff across its seven regional offices. The average Countryside property sells for £288,000 and the company has 5800 plots in its landbank.

Head honchos

Alan Cherry, founder of the group, is chairman and David Thornham is non-executive deputy chairman. Though a PLC, Countryside is very much a family-run concern. Cherry’s son Graham is chief executive and his younger brother Richard is group new business director. Alan Cherry is something of an ambassador for the housebuilding industry and sits on the boards of various policymaking organisations including the East of England Development Agency and the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership.

Reputation

Countryside’s awards for innovation – from institutions such as the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the RIBA – has sealed the developer’s reputation as a quality builder. And in 2003, deputy prime minister John Prescott said a Countryside development in Harlow, Essex, had “wow factor”. The housebuilder partnered with developer Taylor Woodrow on the sustainable community at Greenwich Millennium Village and has made it a habit to work with high-profile architects including Will Alsop – on the now-scrapped Fourth Grace development in Liverpool – and Richard Rogers. It came top in the World Wildlife Fund’s 2004 sustainability report, was one of The Sunday Times’ 100 best British companies to work for in 2004 and is listed on the FTSE4Good index, an indicator of its social responsibility.

Secret weapon

Its high profile. Countryside isn’t even a top 10 UK housebuilder by turnover yet it is well known because of its media-savvy directors.

Crest Nicholson

David Wilson has enlisted the help of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen to provide ideas for its designs

Facts and figures

In 2003 Crest turned over £550.5m and hit pre-tax profits of £74.6m, an 18% rise on the previous year. The group sold 1936 units, including 308 affordable homes, at an average price of £239,000. Crest is yet to publish its 2004 results, but it is expecting to announce a record profit after selling 30% more homes than in 2003. The company says its average sales price has continued to fall (from £239,000 in 2003 to £210,000 in 2004) demonstrating its growing activity in the affordable housing sector. At the end of last year, Crest had about 15,000 plots in its landbank. The company employs 1600 staff across its eight main offices.

Head honchos

John Matthews is chairman and John Callcutt is chief executive. A member of the government’s Sustainable Buildings Task Group, Callcutt is a staunch public advocate of developers’ role as builders of communities rather than just houses. He says: “Creating sustainable communities, which are able to generate a real sense of belonging, is central to Crest Nicholson’s business strategy.”

Reputation

Crest has won industry plaudits for most aspects of its regeneration work including design awards from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Royal Town Planning Institute. The company won a top score in the Housing Forum’s 2003 national customer satisfaction survey and is listed on the FTSE4Good index as a socially responsible group.

Secret weapon

A good all-rounder. Crest is a masterplanner, designer and builder of large schemes.

David Wilson Homes

Facts and figures

David Wilson’s pre-tax profit jumped 31.8% to £217.8m in 2003 and turnover increased 24.6% to reach just over £1bn. In the same year, the company sold 4902 units – almost 20% more than in 2002. These great leaps in its performance are partly explained by the company’s acquisition of Henry Boot Homes during 2003. More healthy profit growth is predicted for 2004. The average David Wilson home sells for £204,500 and the company has about 11,300 plots with planning permission in its landbank. David Wilson Homes has 2581 staff working across its 15 offices.

Head honchos

It’s been all change at David Wilson Homes. The company split into two divisions in 2004, with Gary Mill becoming chief executive of David Wilson Southern and David Jones chief executive of David Wilson Northern. In January, the company’s chairman Mike Stansfield suddenly stepped down from the board and left. David Wilson is group chairman of Wilson Bowden of the firm that bears his name.

Reputation

Already, David Wilson has demonstrated it can no longer be

pigeon-holed as a luxury home provider: it is developing a retirement home business based in the South-west and last year launched Urban Revival, a Midlands-based company that aims to create trendy suburban apartments. The company is also developing its regeneration experience and is working with Liverpool council on the Liverpool pathfinder project to create 6000 homes north of the city centre. With all this potential growth to contend with, it’s just as well David Wilson has enlisted the help of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen to provide ideas and inspiration for its designs. The appointment demonstrates the company’s creative approach to raising its profile.

Secret weapon

Besides Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen – an appetite for growth.

Taylor Woodrow

Facts and figures

Taylor Woodrow posted a pre-tax profit of £304m for 2003, a rise of 30% on the previous year. Turnover was £2.7bn, compared with about £2.2bn in 2002. And analysts are expecting a record profit for 2004 – completions during the year were up 18% to 9053 and the average unit sale price rose 9% to £197,000. It has operations in North America, Spain and Gibraltar as well as the UK and has 7000 staff worldwide – 5300 in the UK, of which 3659 are in its housebuilding arm. It has 11 regional offices and one head office. Taylor Woodrow’s UK landbank contains more than 9000 plots.

Head honchos

Norman Askew is chairman and Ian Napier chief executive. Over the past year, Askew and Napier have concentrated on growing their US and Canadian businesses, but they also intend to extend their UK housing interest. Napier says refocusing 90% of the business on housing has helped turn round the company’s fortunes. As he puts it: “Things are going swimmingly.”

Reputation

Taylor Woodrow wowed the industry with its ambitious programme of acquisitions and in 2004 was named major housebuilder of the year the annual awards of Housing Today’s sister magazine Building. It has a good track record in ecologically sensitive development and was praised by the World Wildlife Fund’s 2004 report on sustainable building. The company is vocal on the subject of grants to developers and even has some hands-on experience in the matter: in 2002 the ODPM paid Taylor £400,000 to build 20 homes for teachers under the starter homes initiative. It completed 36 homes for just £300,000 and then built another six for £100,000.

Secret weapon

Its background in major infrastructure projects gives the firm valuable experience in delivering large, complex developments.