Redrow plc

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Redrow plc
TypePublic
Traded as
LSE: RDW
IndustryHousebuilding
Founded1974
HeadquartersFlintshire, Wales
Key people
John Tutte, (Chairman)
Matthew Pratt, (Group Chief Executive)
RevenueDecrease £1,339 million (2020)[1]
Operating income
Decrease £148 million (2020)[1]
Net income
Decrease £113 million (2020)[1]
Number of employees
2,368 (2020)[1]
Websitewww.redrow.co.uk

Redrow plc is one of the largest British housebuilders with a network of 14 operational divisions across the UK.[2] It is based in Flintshire and employs 2,300 people. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is currently a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History[]

Steve Morgan had been working as a site agent for Wellington Civil Engineering when, in 1974, the parent company decided it was to be closed. Morgan offered to take over the contract, borrowed £5,000 from his father, and completed the contract at a profit. Further work was carried out for Wellington and, still aged only 21, Morgan registered his new company – Redrow.[3] Redrow gradually expanded through small civil engineering work and, with Simon Macbryde, formed a separate building company; these were later merged to leave Macbryde with 17 percent of the enlarged company. Geographically, Redrow moved from its north Wales base into Cheshire and in the early 1980s made significant construction acquisitions in Manchester and the Wirral.[3]

Redrow's entry into housebuilding came in 1982 and by 1985 it had grown sufficiently to separate it out from the construction business. A small acquisition in Kent provided the base for a south-east housing operation; a midlands housing subsidiary was formed in 1986 and in 1987 Redrow bought Whelmar Lancashire, one of the five housing subsidiaries then being sold by Christian Salvesen. By now, Redrow was selling over 1,000 houses a year.[4] Further expansion took Redrow into the south-west, south Wales and Yorkshire but Redrow had pulled out of the vulnerable south-east market just ahead of the 1989 property collapse. Redrow returned to the south-east in 1993 as the housing recession neared its end, buying Costain Homes from the troubled Costain Group; this took Redrow's housing sales up to 2,000 a year.[3]

The construction business was sold and with Redrow now purely a development business the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994.[5] Redrow grew steadily through the rest of the decade reaching sales of 3,000 a year. In 2000 Steve Morgan announced his intention to leave the company, retaining only a 14 percent stake in the company. Paul Pedley, who had joined Redrow as finance director in 1995, took over as managing director.[4] In 2006 Redrow saw its 50,000th customer.[6] In 2009, Steve Morgan returned to Redrow as Executive Chairman, having increased his shareholding to just under 30 percent.[7]

A Redrow development in Horsforth, West Yorkshire

In 2010 Redrow launched its Heritage Collection [8] followed by the Regent Collection [9] and more modern Abode Collection.[10]

In February 2017 Redrow acquired Radleigh Homes in Derby, an established company which delivered 200 new homes in 2016. It has since been re-branded to Redrow Homes (East Midlands).[11] Then, in September 2017, it was announced that Morgan would "ease back" to a non-executive chairman role with Redrow.[12]

On 18 October 2018 Redrow announced its 100,000th customer and released statistics on the number of direct jobs it had created (36,000), including 2,000 trainees, and a further 200,000 indirect employees.[13] On 7 November 2018, it was announced that Steve Morgan would retire from the company in March 2019 with John Tutte taking over as executive chairman and Matthew Pratt as chief operating officer.[14] Tutte himself announced his retirement in 2020 with Matthew Pratt taking over as Group Chief Executive.[15]

Like most housebuilders, Redrow temporarily closed most of its sites during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom during early 2020. The site closures pushed house sales down by a third. In a trading update, Redrow said it had completed 4,032 homes up to 28 June 2020, compared to 6,443 in 2019. Turnover was expected to be £1.34bn against £2.11bn in 2019.[16]

In June 2020, following a review of its divisional businesses, Redrow decided to scale-back its operations in London to focus on its Colindale Gardens development and announced it would continue to target the Group's future growth on the higher returning regional businesses and the Heritage product.[17][18] In the same year Redrow partnered with John Moores University to offer a degree in Construction Management, receiving over 800 applications. Previously the degree had only been open to Redrow employees but the company opened it up to outside applicants.[19]

In June 2021 Redrow announced the appointment of Richard Akers as its new non‐executive chairman effective from September 2021.[20]

Flagship developments[]

The company's flagship developments include:

  • Woodford Garden Village: Woodford Garden Village in Cheshire is the first garden village for over 100 years in the North West of England and utilises over 500 acres of brownfield land, previously used for aircraft manufacturing. Redrow will be developing 900 new homes alongside 50 acres of green public spaces.[21]
  • Ebbsfleet Green, Kent: Redrow's Ebbsfleet Green will comprise 950 new homes, along with a village centre, park, sports pitches, a hotel and a pub, and a primary school.[22] This development will form part of the plans for a garden city at Ebbsfleet, with up to 15,000 new homes, based predominately on brownfield land, or former quarries.[23] This development, is also part of the NHS Healthy New Towns network.[24]
  • Plasdwr: Redrow is developing around 2,000 homes in Plasdwr, north west Cardiff. The £2 billion Cardiff ‘garden village’ will comprise four different zones, each with a central square and a primary school.[25]
  • Colindale Gardens: a £1 billion mixed use development in north west London, which will have more than 2,900 homes. At 47 acres in total, the regeneration utilised a tower block and adjacent land from the Peel Centre, formerly part of the Hendon Police College.[26]
  • Ledsham Garden Village: A 105-hectare site in South Wirral will become a sustainable new community of up to 2,000 homes. It will create employment, education and leisure opportunities and green open spaces.[27]
  • Amington Garden Village, Tamworth: This 60-hectare former golf course site will feature up to 1,100 new homes and a package of community investment worth £14 million, including funding towards the cost of building a new primary school, a new community woodland and extending the Hodge Lane Local Nature Reserve.[28]

The company has commissioned research by two academics, Dr Stefan Kruczkowski and Dr Laura B. Alvarez, in order to develop eight principles of creating better places.[29]

Regeneration[]

  • Sudbrook: Redrow will develop 212 homes at the former Sudbrook Papermill in Monmouthshire. Homes for private sale will be a mixture of detached, semi-detached and terraced properties. Affordable units will comprise eight two-person flats, 10 two-bed houses and two three-bed house.[30]
  • Vision at Devonport: Recently completed, this £70 million redevelopment of the Royal Navy South Yard Enclave in Devonport, Plymouth, includes 464 properties, shops, offices and extra care housing. It also included demolition of what had become known as Plymouth's ‘Berlin Wall’.[31]
  • Buckshaw Village: After 15 years, redevelopment of the site of the former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF Chorley) in Lancashire is nearing completion. As lead developer, Redrow launched its first homes for sale at the village in 2003 and, since then, has been responsible for 1,270 of the homes that make up the community. There is also a railway station, Tesco superstore, schools, bars, restaurants, local shops, a doctors’ surgery, community centre and a business park supporting 10,000 jobs.[32]

In 2020, following research commissioned by Redrow which found that 10 tonnes of waste was created for each house built, it was announced that the company now diverts 97% of that construction waste away from landfill.[33]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Final results for the year to 30 June 2020" (PDF). Redrow plc. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Divisional Offices". Redrow. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Burland and Whitehouse, The Redrow Way (1999)
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Wellings, Fred: Dictionary of British Housebuilders (2006) Troubador. ISBN 978-0-9552965-0-5
  5. ^ Company Prospectus
  6. ^ "Win Cements a year of Fortune". Daily Post. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  7. ^ Steve Morgan regains control of Redrow in swift coup The Times, 21 March 2009
  8. ^ "Redrow launches new heritage collection". Easier.com. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Redrow to unveil regent collection show homes in Chester". Building Construction Design. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Homes to fit the future in Lancaster". whathouse.com. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Radleigh Homes bought by Redrow". Insidermedia. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Place North West | Morgan to step back as Redrow reports another record year". Place North West. 5 September 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  13. ^ Hughes, Owen (23 October 2018). "School expulsion to millionaire developer for Steve Morgan - who says parts of Wales now a no go area for house building". northwales. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Morgan announces his departure from Redrow". Construction Index. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  15. ^ "Redrow delays power transfer". Construction Index. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  16. ^ "Lockdown cuts Redrow annual sales by a third". The Construction Index. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  17. ^ Bayley, Sian (18 September 2020). "Wandsworth Alton Estate regeneration to go ahead despite withdrawal of developer". MyLondon.
  18. ^ Jolly, Jasper (30 June 2020). "Redrow shifts its housebuilding focus away from London". MyLondon.
  19. ^ Priory, Grant (10 November 2020). "Redrow receives 800 applications for construction degree". Construction Enquirer.
  20. ^ "Redrow names new chairman". Construction News. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Redrow makes start on Woodford Aerodrome homes". Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Approval given for 233 new homes in Ebbsfleet garden city". Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Major projects and developments". Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  24. ^ England, NHS. "NHS England » Ebbsfleet". www.england.nhs.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  25. ^ "This is what Cardiff's new 7,000 home £2bn 'Garden City' suburb will look like". Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  26. ^ "Former Peel Centre, Peel Drive, Colindale, London, Application summary". Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  27. ^ "Ledsham Garden Village, Wirral | TEP – The Environment Partnership". www.tep.uk.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  28. ^ Jones, Tamlyn (5 February 2016). "Redrow to build 1,100 new houses on former golf course". birminghampost. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  29. ^ "Wales' Five Star Builder is Creating Better Places to Live". Business News Wales. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  30. ^ "Plans for 212 homes at former Sudbrook Papermill site approved". Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  31. ^ Telford, William (9 November 2017). "Watch how Devonport was transformed after 'Berlin Wall' came down". plymouthherald. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  32. ^ Walker, Brian (5 May 2017). "Redrow launches last phase of landmark development at Buckshaw". Lancashire Evening Post. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  33. ^ "Redrow diverted 97% of construction waste from landfill in 2020". Showhouse.

External links[]

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