Barratt Developments

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. 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.

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". Lewis Greensitt left shortly after the flotation and in 1973 the company was renamed Barratt Developments. 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 and the Luton-based Janes.

Central to Barratt's expansion was its high-profile marketing, with national advertising, featuring Patrick Allen and a helicopter. 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. 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. In the late 1980s, Margaret Thatcher famously purchased a house on one of Barratt's most upmarket estates, in Dulwich, London.

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. 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.

The company was heavily impacted by the early 1990s recession. Barratt's fiscal circumstances led to Lawrie Barratt being recalled from retirement. The company promptly reoriented towards first time buyers and increased production. Lawrie retired for good in 1997 and remained life president of the firm until his death in December 2012.