Galliford Try housebuilding boss to diversify for growth

Galliford Try’s new group managing director of housebuilding Andrew Richards will look to diversify into new business models as he seeks to drive an improvement in the business’s profit margin.

Richards’ appointment, announced this week, means he will take up the role running Linden Homes from July.

Speaking exclusively to Building, Richards (pictured) said that his background running Galliford Try’s investments division meant that he would be perfectly placed to investigate whether Linden Homes could make more use of joint ventures, partnership deals and sales to the private rented sector.

Richards was appointed this week as Galliford Try published an interim management statement for the period between 1 January and 7 May showing £836m in house sales, up 8% on the previous year.

It said reservations per site were up 6% year on year.

His appointment comes after his predecessor Ian Baker unexpectedly stepped down last year after a serious illness.

Richards said the focus of Linden would remain building a higher margin business following the turnover expansion of the past three years, which saw the number of homes sold each year rise by 78% between 2010 and 2012.

However, he said he was looking to achieve this by exploring alternative funding and sales models, including the possibility of funding housing projects through joint ventures, and bidding to take on surplus public sector land.

He said: “What we do in housebuilding is already excellent. I want to […] make sure we’re at the forefront of the new opportunities that are out there. This means looking at things such as the private rented sector, joint venture schemes and Homes and Communities Agency land release.

“I’m an accountant by trade and I’ve spent my whole life investing, developing and funding construction projects.”

Richards said it was too early to say whether the desire to increase profit margins would lead to a squeeze on the firm’s subcontractors. He added that the announcement of the Help to Buy scheme in the March Budget meant it was a “very exciting time” for the housing sector.