Firm interested in building social housing after no-compete clause with Vistry ran out at start of year

Galliford Try has stepped up its move back into building social housing with the appointment of an affordable homes director.

The firm sold its Linden Homes business to Bovis Homes, since renamed Vistry, at the start of 2020 in a deal valued at £1.1bn which included a £300m cash payment.

But it agreed not to build any social housing for the next three years in order not to compete with the same business at Vistry. That no-compete clause ran out at the beginning of the year.

bill hocking

Chief executive Bill Hocking said the firm is only looking at mid and high-density rather than a return to traditional house building

“The demand for affordable housing is still huge, it’s a market that is big and is going to be around for a long time,” Galliford Try chief Bill Hocking told Building last year.

Angela Brockbank becomes its new director for the affordable homes sector and joins from housing association Thirteen Housing Group, where she was head of new business and growth.

The firm said Brockbank will “be tasked with developing Galliford Try’s offering for the sector, building relationships with affordable housing providers, local authorities and wider stakeholders”.

The firm said it will not be building “rows of house” but is looking at mid and high-density work such as flats.

>> Galliford Try to muscle in to social housing new build sector

>> Galliford Try and Midgard win 350-home build-to-rent contract in north London

Galliford Try works in the private rented sector and is coming to the end of its biggest job – a £105m PRS deal in Leeds near the city’s railways station.

“We build residential schemes for private clients all the time. There’s no difference at all [with social housing],” Hocking added last year.

In its last set of results for the year to June, Galliford Try’s revenue was up 13% to £1.4bn and pre-tax profit up to £10.1m from £5.4m the year before.

Topics