Strata forges ahead in the Midlands
Filed Under Country Curtain | Posted on January 12, 2008
When Midlands Housing last caught up with Strata, it was very much a newcomer to the Midlands scene, despite having very much established itself in and around South Yorkshire. With homes now completed and sold, in the region, however, its no longer hard to find physical evidence of the companys Midlands march.
Originally created in 1919 by bricklayer Oscar Weaver, grandfather of its current chairman Irving, Strata Homes began life as a property repairs operation in its South Yorkshire heartlands. In 1926 the company successfully won its first local authority repairs contract and worked on council houses in the county.
The company found itself growing significantly following the Second World War, with extensive repairs needed due to the bomb damage sustained in the preceding six years, and in 1958 Frank Weaver, Oscars youngest son, joined the family business. Ten years later, the company spotted a gap in the market for the refurbishment of social housing built in the thirties, which had by this time fallen into a state of some disrepair. Throughout this period, the companys core business had been the refurbishment and repair of social housing properties, although towards the late seventies it branched out and carried out a small amount of private newbuild housing development, as well as industrial, commercial and regeneration projects.
In 1988, the company set up Weaver Homes, the forerunner of the modern day Strata, to oversee the housebuilding side of the business. With an initial turnover of around %26pound;3 million per annum and 25 full time staff, the company was still very much a small regional developer at this stage. In the 1990s current chairman Irving Weaver became 100 per cent shareholder in the business following the retirement of his brother, and remains so to this day. With an annual turnover of %26pound;80.7 million last year, the company must surely be one of the biggest businesses under sole ownership in the sector, and with Weavers avowed determination to keep the business in family hands; it seems set to remain so for some time yet.
As press officer Lucy Dorman explains: Within the housing sector theres a vast difference between the big boys and the smaller regional builders, with very little in between thanks to buy outs. Our chairman is adamant that we will not be bought out hes happy with the direction were taking and has no intention of taking us in another one, and were confident we can bridge that gap between the two extremes of the sector.
To this end, the company rebranded as Strata in 2001, shifting its core business away from the social housing refurbishment market and into development. Weavers determination with the new direction was that the company would not simply %26lsquo;tow the line and create yet more typical housing developments, but that it would instead create design-led bespoke developments that would stand out from the identikit homes thrown up so often around the country.
Dorman says: We really want to build homes where people walk in and go %26lsquo;yes theyve really thought about that. Well use top of the range bathroom furniture, design-led architecture, all these little things that prevent people viewing a house and then going %26lsquo;where have we just been again?
Managing director Ian Dyke concurs: Strata is in the habit of staying one step ahead of our
competitors and we feel we are able to successfully second-guess the market. We make our homes more desirable by focusing on the little things that really make a difference, and that we know the market wants. For example we use only the best quality kitchen units by David Charles and appliances by Neff, as well as touches like chrome door furniture and sash style windows. For us, its all about real value, not perception of value.
Strata still retains an interest in affordable housing, education, health and commercial contracts through a separate company, Strata Construction, but, says Dorman, it is very much newbuild which is exciting the company these days.
As a natural result of building on brownfield sites close to population centres, Strata is of course also involved with the construction of social housing its main target demographic may be young family buyers, but the nature of the current market means it is just as bound by the likes of Section 106 as any other developer. At Euphoria, Stratas development on the site of Derby County FCs former Baseball Ground, for example, the developer is committed to providing 10 per cent affordable homes. The site will feature a number of green spaces, a nod to the sites historic past. So far, almost 50 homes have been released on the site, and, when completed, the first phase will contain 149 homes, of which 15 will be affordable five for rent and ten for sale under the HomeBuy scheme. The Housing Corporation is further committed to funding a further 15 affordable homes at a later stage of the development.
A further development in Derby, Rhapsody which is due to open in December 2007, sees the company delivering further high spec homes to local residents. The mixture of one, two, three
and four-bedroom homes offer designer living at affordable prices and are very much aimed at young urban professionals the city centre is just three minutes away on the train and, almost as if the company was following a natural linear path from the previous Baseball Ground scheme, the homes are a short drive from Pride Park, Derby Countys new home. All the homes feature contemporary David Charles fitted kitchens as well as either a garage and/or off street parking a rare luxury in such a central environment.
Possession, meanwhile, in Corby, sees Strata aiming more for the family market, with a selection of three, four and five-bed homes. As well as local people, Strata hopes to attract London commuters to the development. As Dorman notes: The site is only an hours commute from London, but for the price of a luxury four-bedroom home here you could probably buy a shoe box in London!
A further development, Indigo, of 72 apartments in a leafy part of Mansfield has seen Strata rise to the planning challenge of fitting its design in with the park across the road, using Mansard roofs in the Second Empire style as one way of achieving its aim. A further development in Nottingham has brought a Nottingham Evening Post new homes award Stratas way for its Geneva three-storey, three-bedroom house type, further cementing its position in the region.
The Strata Groups anticipated completions for 2007 are currently scheduled to reach up to 635 units for 2007. The increase of around 200 units from last years 452 total can be almost entirely put down to its now operational Midlands arm. Two more sites are scheduled to open early in 2008, and, says Dorman, the message for the established developers in the area is: Watch out!
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