HOUSEBUILDER Linden Homes has launched a new division in the North East after picking up lucrative housing contracts in the region, including its involvement in the regeneration of Gateshead’s housing stock.
Linden Homes North East, part of the Galliford Try Group, will be based at the Galliford Try Partnership’s North office in Ponteland, Newcastle, and will open its first development of family homes, Howden Green, in Howden le Wear, County Durham.
The launch takes the number of company’s regional business units to 11, which stretch from Cornwall to Newcastle.
This latest announcement reaffirms the housebuilder’s growth plans and will see a number of new homes built in the North East over the coming years.
Galliford Try is developing around 2,200 homes annually in the UK, with Linden Homes holding a landbank of 10,000 plots, 80% of which are on brownfield sites.
The company was chosen as part of a consortium of builders to spearhead a £347m contract to regenerate a large proportion of Gateshead Council’s housing stock.
As many as 2,400 houses will be built across 19 sites at Birtley Northside, the former rail freight depot on the Felling bypass, and sites in Rowlands Gill, Chopwell, Bensham and Saltwell. The new houses, which will be built over the next 15 to 20 years will be built to a minimum Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4, which will ensure they are among the best insulated and most energy-efficient homes in the UK.
While the new division will create three jobs at the firm’s Ponteland offices, the firm has said it could have a “significant” increase in its 150-strong North East workforce after seeing its pre-tax profits jump from £13.2m to £17m in the six months to December 31, 2010, with group revenue up from £570m to £576m in the same period.
Mark Wilson, Linden Homes North East regeneration director, said: “Linden Homes’ expansion into the North East of England is part of the business’s overall strategic growth plans and we are delighted to have a growing presence in the region.
“We have a number of sites we are in the process of buying and will be announcing further acquisitions shortly.”
The group managed to maintain its nationwide order book at £1.75bn during the last six months of 2010, with the help of contracts in the service sector, including large water schemes.
These include a £33m contract from Northumbria Water to design and build an advanced anaerobic digestion plant at Howdon sewage treatment works in Newcastle.
The contract, in partnership with Imtech Process Limited, is due for completion by September 2012.