Bellway

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Bellway plc

Type	Public (LSE: BWY)
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Key people	Howard Dawe, Chairman John Watson, CEO
Industry	Housebuilding
Revenue	£1,240 million (2006)
Operating income	£239 million (2006)
Net income	£156 million (2006)
Employees	2,446 (2006)
Website	www.bellway.co.uk

Bellway plc (LSE: BWY) is a major British residential property developer. It was founded in 1946 by John T. Bell (1878 - 1965) and his sons John and Russell, and is based on Newcastle upon Tyne. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

[edit] Family history

Born in Walker, Northumberland, John Thomas Bell was the son of William and Mary Jane Bell (nee Craig). His father was born into Norfolk farming stock and was one of thousands who, during the agricultural slump of the 1870s, migrated from the countryside towards Britain's industrial heartlands in search of alternative work. He first settled in and around Newcastle and worked as a quarryman. It was here that he met his wife, the daughter of a Scottish-born quarryman. John was the eldest child. He was followed by thirteen others.

By the turn of the century John, aged twenty two, was living with his family in North Seaton, one of a series of mining villages on the vast south-east Northumberland coalfield - although he and his father, as well as two of his brothers, were there quarrying stone. However 'JT' was evidently a driven man, with the ambition and business acumen to attempt an escape from the hardship around him. Family lore suggests that his first 'business' was trade of a very small kind - going door to door with a barrow. This may have amounted to nothing, but at some point before his mother's death during the Great War years he set about investigating a dormant inheritance which had originally been left to his maternal grandmother, Mary Richley. Her sister had emigrated to America but died shortly afterwards in 1859, leaving three children effectively orphaned. It appears that they all involved with the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The only girl, Caroline Ann, was groomed as the second wife of a William Randolph Teeples, a Mormon pioneer who co-founded the town of Pima, Arizona. It is from source that the inheritance is thought to have derived.

Having successfully tracked down and claimed the inheritance 'JT', with the blessing of his mother (to whom the money technically belonged), plowed it into his first house conversion. It was evidently a success, and it was on the back of this that the small local building company of 'John T Bell' emerged.

In 1946 'JT' was joined by his sons John (1918-1974)and Russell. The trio managed to successfully tap into the huge demand for private housing that followed the Second World War (Cramlington New Town, build in partnership with William Leech in the early 1960s, was a massive project of this type), and in the decade that followed a judicious land buying policy and a knack for building what people wanted at affordable prices led the enterprise to greater and greater success.

The 1980s signalled a new dawn for Bellway. Already a huge success in the North East it developed into a nationwide organisation, and although it suffered some from some slumps, it was the beginning of a period of uninterrupted and prodiguous growth for the company which continues to this day.

[edit] Present day

In 2004 Bellway celebrated the sale of its 100,000 home, and in the year ended 31 July 2006 made profits before tax of £221 million on a turnover of £1,240 million, and is amongst the top 250 companies on the UK stock market. It currently employs 2,446 people in over a dozen regional divisions.

Family involvement with the company, both as directors, chairmen and shareholders, ended after the premature deaths of Kenneth Bell and his son Ashley in 1999.