 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Housebuilding/Construction |
| Founded | 1921 |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Key people | Norman Askew, Chairman Ian Smith, CEO |
| Revenue | £3,572.1 million (2006) |
| £469.8 million (2006) | |
| £290.6 million (2006) | |
Number of employees | 8,132 (2005) |
| Parent | Taylor Wimpey plc |
| Website | www.taylorwoodrow.com |
Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival housebuilder George Wimpey to create Taylor Wimpey on 3 July 2007.
Taylor Woodrow was created from the work of Frank Taylor and his uncle, Jack Woodrow; Frank started building homes in Blackpool at the age of 16 in 1921. During 1930, the company relocated to London and rapidly increased its activities in the private housing market as well as entering the general construction sector as well. In 1935, the various housebuilding companies were amalgamated and floated on the London Stock Exchange as Taylor Woodrow Estates. Taylor Woodrow Construction formed two years later. Private housebuilding was halted during the Second World War; instead, the company built various military facilities and factories to support the British war effort.
By the conflict's end, Taylor Woodrow was a substantial construction company; it quickly spread internationally and engaged in a wide variety of work, both for the private and public sectors. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was involved in the construction of the world's first commercial nuclear power station (Calder Hall), the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, and the St Katharine Docks complex. Between the 1950s and the beginning of the 1980s, while Taylor Woodrow was involved in private housebuilding, it was a relatively small endeavour in comparison to its other activities. In the mid-1970s, overseas profits accounted for two thirds of group profits, a large proportion of which originated from the firm's work in the Middle East. As part of a consortium, Taylor Woodrow worked on the Channel Tunnel throughout the 1980s and 1990s, amongst other major civil engineering works and commercial projects.
However, the collapse of the property boom amid the early 1990s recession led to the company becoming increasingly centered around the private housebuilding sector. The acquisition of both Heron Homes and Bryant during this decade made the company into one of the top five housebuilders in Britain. In March 2007, the company announced plans for a £6 billion nil premium merger with George Wimpey. In September 2008, Vinci plc, the British subsidiary of France's Vinci SA, acquired Taylor Woodrow Construction from Taylor Wimpey for £74m.