Barratt Developments


Barratt Developments PLC
Type Public (LSE: BDEV)
Industry Housebuilding
Founded 1958
Headquarters Coalville, England, UK
Key people Bob Lawson, Chairman
Mark Clare, CEO
Revenue £2,285.2 million (2009)[1]
Operating income £34.2 million (2009)[1]
Net income £(468.6) million (2009)[1]
Employees circa 5,000
Website www.barratthomes.co.uk

Barratt Developments PLC (LSE: BDEV) is one of the largest residential property development companies in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1958 by Sir Lawrie Barratt and was originally based in Newcastle upon Tyne but is now located at David Wilson's former offices in Coalville. It has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1968 and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Contents

History

The company was founded by Sir Lawrie Barratt in 1958 in Newcastle upon Tyne,[2] initially concentrating on building homes for first–time buyers. The company diversified into building a wide range of houses in the 1980’s.

Barratt was for a long time considered the UK’s leading house builder. It was well–known within the construction industry for growing organically, i.e. through increased land purchases as opposed to large acquisitions.[3]

In 1991 the Company was badly hit by a recession and recalled Lawrie Barratt from retirement: he retired for good in 1997 and remains Life President of the Company.[4]

In 2004 the Company sold Barratt American, its US operation, established in the 1980s in California.[5]

Mark Clare was appointed Chief Executive in succession to David Pretty in 2006.[6]

Following the house price boom in the later 1990’s and early 2000’s, which saw a number of Barratt’s largest rivals, such as Persimmon, George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow all acquire rivals to increases in size, Barratt broke its tradition of 30 years and acquired Wilson Bowden, best known for its David Wilson Homes brand, for £2.7bn in 2007.[3] This brought the David Wilson, Ward Homes and Wilson Bowden Developments brands to the group.

In 2008 the Company secured a restructuring of its banking covenant package.[7]

Operations

UK house building

Margaret Thatcher famously purchased a house on one of Barratt's most up market estates, in Dulwich, South London.[8]

Barratt also used to have a self – created upmarket brand, KingsOak Homes[9] but now uses the David Wilson Homes brand for this purpose.

Commercial construction

Barratt owns and operates Wilson Bowden Developments, which develops commercial property in the UK.[10]

For several years, Barratt Homes has used an oak tree as its logo, and there have been at least three versions of it.

For a long time the company also used the slogan ‘Britain’s Premier House Builder’. The reasons for this is that Barratt is widely regarded as Britain’s best-known house builder amongst the general public, and some people still view Barratt Homes, along with George Wimpey, as the two large, mass–volume house builders in the UK.

Following the acquisition of Wilson Bowden in 2007, the Management decided to give the Barratt corporate identity a facelift. The same logo used by Barratt Developments PLC for corporate purposes and Barratt Homes for marketing purposes was scrapped, and the there are now two, slightly different logos for the two purposes, although they both still feature a tree.

In addition, the Barratt Homes slogan was changed to ‘built around you’, emphasising that for the previous fifty years, customer feedback had gone back into the building process to improve house building. The relaunch included a massive TV and newspaper advertising campaign.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Annual Report 2009
  2. ^ "About Barratt Group". Barratt Homes. http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/about/barrattgroup. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
  3. ^ a b (2007-02-07)"Barratt Developments to buy Wilson Bowden". International Herald Tribune. 2007-02-07. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/05/bloomberg/bxhome.php. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
  4. ^ "Sir Lawrie Barratt". Building.co.uk. http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=3069498. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
  5. ^ Execs buy US unit of Barratt Developers
  6. ^ British Gas director moves to Barratt
  7. ^ (2008-08-07)"Need to Know". London: The Times. 2008-08-07. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/article4473900.ece. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
  8. ^ (2002-01-30)"Laager toffs". The Guardian. 2002-01-30. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/jan/30/urbandesign.architecture. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
  9. ^ Fit for the King
  10. ^ Wilson Bowden Developments in a potential sale
  11. ^ 'Built around you'

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