United House Developments

United House Developments
Private
Industry Housebuilding
Founded 1964
Headquarters Goldsel Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 8EX, UK
Key people
 Stephen Halbert, Chairman
Jeffrey Adams, Group Chief Executive
Website www.unitedhousedevelopments.net

United House Developments is a property development company based in Southampton Street, London. It is one of the leading[1] niche residential developers in London and is active in the construction of social housing, urban regeneration, refurbishment and Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

History

The origin of the company lies with Geoffrey Granter who founded Harp Heating in 1964. Initially, the core business was installing central heating in council housing while the tenants remained in occupation. Harp Heating broadened this service into an internal refurbishment product for the GLC, installing a package of heating, bathroom, kitchen and electrical works in four days. To achieve this they developed highly organised logistics arrangements, distributing materials on a just in time basis from its 100,000 sq ft warehouse adjacent to the head office at Swanley.[2]

After Jeffrey Adams joined the company in 1982, becoming its joint owner with Granter, the company changed its name and expanded into housebuilding and housing refurbishment. In the 1990s, the company won substantial business under the Private Finance Initiative linked to the Decent Homes Programme, and building of new social under the Blair-Brown government.[3] A development division named Modern City Living was established in 1990. [4] United House became the leading housing PFI contractor in the UK, managing over 7,000 homes.[1] In 2008, Modern City Living was rebranded United House Developments.

Granter retired from the business in 2008 and Steven Halbert joined the board as Chairman. Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) invested a minority stake and RBS provided bank loans to fund further expansion in inner city private housebuilding.[5]

On 16 September 2014, a restructuring of United House Group was announced. United House's construction business (United House Ltd) merged with Bullock Construction, which was also owned by LDC and has a similar profile to United House Ltd, but worked in other areas of the UK. The new construction company was called United Living Group,[6] and Bullock's CEO Ian Burnett become the Group Chief Executive. Later in 2014, United House Developments, headed by Adams as chairman and Rick de Blaby as CEO, became a separate development company, based in London.[7] [8]

Awards

The company has won many awards including:[9]

Notable projects

The company carried out the conversion of Frobisher Crescent at the Barbican, the original location of the Cass Business School, into residential use. It was also involved in the Central St Giles mixed-use development in Covent Garden[2] and the Arundel Square and Wenlock Building schemes in Islington and the Queensbridge Quarter development in Hackney.

United House constructed the Clapham One development in Clapham High Street for Cathedral Group in 2012 in a PPP with the London Borough of Lambeth, which financed the provision of a new library and health centre at no cost to the taxpayer.[13]

In 2013, it completed its largest ever construction project, including 388 social homes plus office and retail space, in a mixed-use development at Hale Village in Tottenham.[14] Around the end of 2013, the company completed the Paynes & Borthwick riverside development at West Greenwich.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 "United House". Lloyds TSB Development Capital. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 Bates, Rupert (May 2011). "Recipe for housing success". Show House. pp. 45–47. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Harrington, Ben (1 June 2008). "Builders set for fortune in United House disposal". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.unitedhousedevelopments.net/about-us/our-history
  5. ↑ Stothart, Chloë (21 April 2010). "Lloyds buys stake in United House". Inside Housing. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
  6. ↑ http://www.unitedliving.co.uk/
  7. ↑ Wilson, Robyn (16 September 2014). "United House and Bullock Construction to merge". Construction News. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  8. ↑ Prior, Grant (16 September 2014). "Loss-making United House to merge with Bullock". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  9. ↑ About us: Awards
  10. ↑ "British Homes Awards 2009". Archived from the original on 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  11. ↑ "British Homes Awards 2010". Archived from the original on 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  12. ↑ "British Homes Awards 2011". Archived from the original on 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  13. ↑ "Clapham One". DLA Design. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Development Focus: Hale Village". British Builder and Developer. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  15. ↑ "Paynes & Borthwick Wharves". United House. Retrieved 1 September 2014.

External links

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