History
In 1953, Lawrie Barratt, an accountant who was frustrated at the high purchase prices of houses for first-time buyers, bought five acres of land at Darras Hall, near Newcastle upon Tyne and built his own home on the site.[5] Following this experience, he joined forces with Lewis Greensitt, a Newcastle builder, to establish a house building business, which was initially known as Greensitt Brothers, in 1958.[6]
During 1968, the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange as Greensitt & Barratt, by which time the company was building 500 homes per year and the growth plan had been "fully achieved".[7] Lewis Greensitt left shortly after the flotation and in 1973 the company was renamed Barratt Developments.[8] Throughout the 1970s, Barratt completed a series of acquisitions, transforming the company from a local housebuilder to a national firm building around 10,000 houses per year, and rivalling George Wimpey in size. The largest of these acquisitions were the Manchester-based firm Arthur Wardle[9] and the Luton-based Janes.[10]
Central to Barratt's expansion was its high-profile marketing, with national advertising, featuring Patrick Allen and a helicopter.[11][12] Barratt provided starter homes for the first-time buyer and offered part-exchange to those trading up. In the year to June 1983, Barratt sold a record 16,500 houses, making it by far the largest housebuilder in the country.[13] In 1983 and 1984, Barratt was subject to two successive ITV World in Action programmes, the first criticising timber-framed housing and the latter, starter homes. Within two years, unit sales had more than halved. Lawrie Barratt led a total restructuring of the company, abandoning timber-framed construction, launching a new product range, and concentrating on the more profitable trade-up market.[8] In the late 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously purchased a house on one of Barratt's most upmarket estates, in Dulwich, London.[14][15]
During the 1980s, the company established the Californian-based business Barratt American, which expanded outside of the state after positive performance during the early 1990s.[16] In 2004, the company sold Barratt American via a management buyout in exchange for £91 million; at the time, it was Barratt's only overseas unit and management opted to focus on the UK market instead.[17][18]
The company was heavily impacted by the early 1990s recession.[19][20] Barratt's fiscal circumstances led to Lawrie Barratt being recalled from retirement.[21] The company promptly reoriented towards first time buyers and increased production.[22][23] Lawrie retired for good in 1997 and remained life president of the firm until his death in December 2012.[13][24]
There was a lengthy housing boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which saw a number of Barratt's largest rivals, such as Persimmon, George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow all acquire rivals to increase in size.[25][26][27] Likewise, in 2007, Barratt broke its tradition of 30 years and acquired Wilson Bowden, best known for its David Wilson Homes brand, in exchange for £2.7 billion; the move made Barrett the biggest homebuilder in Britain, employing roughly 7,500 people at the time of the acquisition.[28][29] thus bringing the David Wilson, Ward Homes and Wilson Bowden Developments brands to the group; Barrett decided to retain the Wilson Bowden name for some activities.[30]
In August 2008, amid the economic effects of the Great Recession and reports that Barrett was in jeopardy of breaking its banking covenants, the firm successfully restructured its arrangements.[32][33] During early 2009, it reported a write-off of nearly £600 million along with 700 job losses.[34][35] In November 2019, Barrett announced that it had completed its refinancing and was actively seeking to open new sites once again.[36]
During the early 2010s, the firm entered into numerous partnerships with other companies.[37][38][39] During 2012, the Barratt Residential Asset Management division was established to provide property management services on a non-profit basis across Barratt London developments.[40] In March 2019, it was announced that Barratt Residential Asset Management had been acquired by FirstPort; as a result of the deal, the 11,000 Barratt London homes that it managed were transferred over to FirstPort.[41][42]
In late 2017, Barratt withdrew from a development deal with Enfield Council valued at £6 billion after the local authority had dismissed its terms.[43] During June 2019, Barratt acquired Oregon Timber Frame, one of the UK's largest timber frame manufacturers and a key supplier to Barratt.[44] During 2020, Barratt Developments set science-based carbon reduction targets as well as making a commitment to build zero carbon homes from 2030 and become a net zero business by 2040.[45] Examples of sustainable developments include the Energy House 2.0,[46] Green House[47] at the BRE Innovation Park, Hanham Hall near Bristol,[48] Derwenthorpe, near York[49] and Kingsbrook, near Aylesbury.
As of 2024, Barratt Developments had achieved a 5 star rating in the Home Builders Federation new home Customer Satisfaction Survey for 15 consecutive years.[52] In the 2024 NHBC Pride in the Job awards for site managers, Barratt site managers won 89 Quality Awards.[53]
Barratt Redrow
On 7 February 2024, the company made an agreed offer to acquire Redrow for £2.5 billion.[54] On the same date, both firms had confirmed reduced revenue and profit.[55] The merged businesses would create a house builder, Barratt Redrow, turning over £7.45 billion and delivering over 22,600 homes a year.[56] Subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal was expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.[56] The deal would see around 800 jobs lost and nine offices close.[57] In March 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into the proposed acquisition, assessing if it might "result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services."[58]
