Rationalising initiatives at Berkeley Group and Crest Nicholson have led managing directors to leave.
divisional managing directors at housebuilders Berkeley and Crest Nicholson have resigned over plans to rationalise the two businesses.

Berkeley Group is discarding its Beaufort brand and incorporating its South-western and Welsh operations into its Crosby business, which is based in the Midlands.

Euan Cresswell, managing director of the two affected divisions, has left the company.

St David, Berkeley's Welsh division, retains its branding, but Beaufort, which operated in the South-west of England, will drop its name and adopt the Crosby Homes brand.

The move marks a shift of business emphasis for the divisions, which have been associated with regeneration in cities such as Cardiff and Bristol.

Geoff Hutchinson, Crosby Group's chairman, said: "While Beaufort's success is built on redeveloping brownfield sites in prime locations, the new companies will also develop traditional luxury homes."

The changes are part of last month's restructuring across the Berkeley Group.

Crosby Homes was split into two companies focusing on inner city (Crosby Homes) and rural (Crosby Homes Special Projects) schemes.

The rationalisation has resulted in 13 redundancies, although 18 job vacancies are being filled.

Another Berkeley Group company, Berkeley Homes, has been split into two smaller companies covering the Home Counties and London.

Bruce Walker, managing director of Crest Nicholson's residential division, left after the company combined its urban residential and commercial property arms into a single company, called Nicholson Estates.

John Callcutt, chief executive of Crest Nicholson, described the move as logical.

"They were increasingly doing the same thing," he said. "Now we have one division doing urban development, concentrating on high-rise and larger schemes."

Peter Murray, managing director of Crest Nicholson's commercial division, has been promoted to managing director of the new Weybridge-based division. No net job losses are expected.