Galliford Try merges housing brands

Housebuilder Galliford Try is to merge all of its housebuilding businesses as part of a strategy to double its housing sales in the next three years.

Currently Galliford Try builds just over 2,100 homes a year under five regional brands, including Linden, Midas and Stamford Homes.

From this week the company will commence a plan to merge these businesses under the Linden Homes brand, with an aim to be building about 4,000 homes a year by 2013-4.

If achieved, this will put the hybrid contracting and housebuilding business on a par with the housing output of listed competitors Bovis Homes and Redrow for the first time.

Ian Baker, group managing director of housing at Galliford Try, said: “At the moment we think we’re the best kept secret on the stock market. People just don’t relate the achievements of our regional businesses with Galliford Try as a whole. We want to be synonymous with the mid-sized national housebuilders such as Bovis and Redrow.”

However, Baker denied Galliford Try will be “gunning” for the two housebuilders, saying the firms had a different business model.

Linden Homes builds about 1,200 of Galliford’s houses, with Midas the second largest business, with about 450 completions. The business, which will now operate from 10 regional units, aims to grow the 2,100 completions it expects for 2010-11 to 3,000 in 2011-12, rising to 3,800 units by 2013-14.

“We effectively want to become a 4,000 unit a year housebuilder,” said Baker.

Galliford Try aims to grow the business by opening new sales outlets, with Baker insisting that increased sales were not dependent upon any increase in house prices.