18 entrepreneurs True homebuilder – however you look at it
Gerard Price is chairman of bespoke builder Bargate Homes, which recently secured a £25 million investment enabling its strategic expansion and a significant boost to the regional economy, writes Sue Hughes. A minority 30% shareholding in Fair Oak-based Bargate, taken by private equity firm Prowting Investment through a deal facilitated by Reading-based Spectrum Corporate Finance at the end of last year, means that Bargate can look to 2015 undertaking larger developments across the region. It not only represents a boost for the south’s construction industry, but also features wider economic implications with the provisions of much-needed housing. Bargate has been building beautiful homes across the region for many years – in Southampton, Winchester, Hambledon, Salisbury, Emsworth, Southbourne, Alton and Chandlers Ford – and is known for prestigious, sensitive developments, among them St James Mews in Winchester and the former brewery site at Hambledon
Having grown up in various mining towns where his father worked for the National Coal Board, Price’s family watched the decline of this once mighty industry from close quarters. His father’s desire for his children to avoid working in a mine led to them to pursue different career paths, and having spent their early years travelling around Scotland, the north of England and Midlands, the family settled on the South Coast, which has been home to Price ever since. As he studied the development of towns and cities for geography in senior school, it sparked a lifelong fascination with building and how to build a business based on construction. A self-confessed ’dealmaker’, Price spent a short spell in the diplomatic corps, but a civil service career was not for him. He has run two highly-successful property businesses, the sale of which left him a multi-millionaire, but at the age of 43 he harnessed the drive and ambition which forged the award-winning companies Amplevine and Linden Homes in the 1980s and 1990s, to launch Bargate Homes.
Tell us about your first company?
I started at the beginning of the property recession and kind of attached myself to the rollercoaster which was the property market. At the age of 25, I set up my own business with a builder friend, a cold start housebuilding company initially funded by working with a government business expansion scheme. Amplevine subsequently raised development finance to reach a 200 homes a year building level prior to disposal. It was responsible for apartment developments and housing schemes across the south before I had the chance to sell to Linden Homes. In the early days I was lucky to have fantastic advisers and received huge support from our contractors. It’s all about people management – if it is tough for everybody, then people pull together.
Linden grew and became a national force in the housebuilding arena, how did you do this?
I transformed the new company from a greenfield developer to a brownfield specialist. Linden was
www.businessmag.co.uk
fully quoted on the London Stock Exchange. As a result I became the largest private shareholder in the company and was part of the £150m MBO deal which returned Linden plc to private ownership in 2000. I sold my shares at the end of 2004 and after a period of gardening leave, decided to get back in the property development business. Linden was innovative and in seeking to learn and gather fresh ideas, I went to the USA to see how and what they build. As a journey, Linden was fantastic. There were very few newly- listed housebuilding developments that dealt with John Prescott at ministerial level. About four years after the MBO I disagreed with the business finance strategy; it was expanding too fast in my opinion and for that you need the right team.
Starting a new company is similar to building a house, with foundations, planning and a structure, would you agree?
I started Bargate in 2006-07. We were originally a tenant here at Vicarage Farm. I thought about what the business would be and the name gave us the brand. We had three people and knew we wanted to create something different, but it’s hard to restrict growth. Some of the team have worked with me for 15 to 25 years; we have new faces too – you need them for fresh ideas because it’s an incredibly consumer- facing business. That’s the key point; you have to hit the sweet spot in the market, so when people walk in they see what they want. A lot of technology is involved in homes nowadays and much of it is hidden. The UK housing regulations, however, are much more controlled than in the USA, which is why a lot of our housing appears bland. It may be innovative inside, but exteriors can be somewhat traditional.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – FEBRUARY 2015
You have nine developments planned for 2015, so how quickly is this business taking off?
We’re aiming to build around 200 homes a year, which means that there are eight or nine physical sites on the go at any one time, and of those 200 we build around 80 for housing associations. All our sites are 45-minutes’ drive time from the office. It’s a conscious decision. We can manage them better, visit all in a day and remain on top of detail. We’re very much
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44