Our History

Redrow joins the Barratt Group, with the new organisation renamed Barratt Redrow plc, creating an exceptional UK housebuilder and marking a new chapter in the company’s history.

This year, underlining our commitment to quality, Barratt achieved the maximum five-star rating in the annual Home Builders Federation customer satisfaction survey for a record-extending fifteenth consecutive year.

Barratt showcased the future of sustainable living through the Zed House and eHome2, two innovative projects at the University of Salford. It also committed to a minimum 10% increase in biodiversity on all new sites taking through planning from January 2023, a year ahead of regulation.

Meanwhile, Redrow became the first large housebuilder to introduce air source heat pumps in its upcoming developments as the industry moves away from traditional gas boilers.

Like many business, Barratt and Redrow faced unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 crisis. Teams embraced new ways of working to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our customers, employees, subcontractors and suppliers, as well as working tirelessly to support local communities and the NHS through equipment donations and volunteering.

Barratt becomes the first major housebuilder to set ambitious science-based carbon reduction targets.

Forty-five years since starting the company, Redrow founder Steve Morgan retired from the board.

2017 saw record results for Redrow – including record turnover and pre-tax profits, as well as more than 5,400 legal completions and the acquisition of Radleigh Homes in February 2017, which became the new Redrow East Midlands division.

Barratt site managers scooped 102 Quality Awards for outstanding workmanship in the annual NHBC Pride in the Job competition – the highest number ever won by a single company.

Redrow continued to grow, with new divisions opening in London and across the Southern Counties, West Country and South East.

Redrow launched The ‘New’ Heritage Collection, inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement (c1850-1915) and featuring traditional elevations, period style features and spacious, flowing interiors.

Work started on at Hanham Hall, Bristol, England’s first large-scale housing scheme to achieve the Government’s 2016 zero-carbon standard.

The prototype “Barratt Green House” was unveiled, the first Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 house built by a major homebuilder.

Barratt Developments acquires Wilson Bowden PLC, comprising David Wilson Homes, a national housebuilder with a reputation for high-quality family homes, Ward Homes, a strong regional brand in Kent and the South-East and Wilson Bowden Developments, commercial property developers.

Redrow celebrated handing over the keys to its 50,000th customer.

The Barratt iPad apartment was created to help bridge the growing affordability gap for first-time buyers. It provided good living space, an open-plan fitted kitchen, separate double bedroom, full bathroom and a private balcony.

Redrow launched a new national training centre as part of a campaign to be known an employer of choice.

Barratt London is a market-leading residential developer in the capital. This superb scheme with outstanding river views on the Isle of Dogs was the only residential building shortlisted in the Royal Fine Art Commission’s Building of the Year Awards.

This magnificent crescent of classically-styled homes from Barratt at Lakeside Grange, Weybridge, Surrey was voted the overall winner in a national building design competition.

In the West Midlands, Redrow were the lead developer in creating Dickens Heath near Solihull, which became the most significant and prestigious new residential development in the region.

New top-of-the-range Premier Collection house styles were introduced by Barratt, with the opening of a show village in Northampton and the company celebrates another milestone – the sale of the 200,000th Barratt home in Britain.

Redrow continued to grow and became a public limited company in May 1994. The Harwood Homes range was also introduced this year, appealing to an alternative market to existing Heritage customers.

Diana, Princess of Wales officially opened St Peter’s Marina Village at Newcastle upon Tyne, a new community of 361 homes and offices which spearheaded the revitalisation of the city’s Quayside.

Barratt introduced part exchange to the property market back in 1971.

The early 90s saw Redrow launch their award-winning Heritage Range.

Dulwich Gate, London SE21: this exclusive development of Georgian-style luxury homes was acclaimed as one of the capital’s finest post-war housing developments. Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, bought a home here.

A pioneering regeneration project in Toxteth, Liverpool transformed a troubled estate into modern, affordable homes and was the first of its kind in the UK.

Barratt opened the first housing development in London Docklands, with more than 50 schemes completed since, providing thousands of homes for rent, shared ownership and sale.

Barratt launches the Studio Solo – Britain's first fully-furnished, fully-fitted and fully-decorated mortgageable one-person home – and within hours sales offices were inundated with inquiries.

During the decade, Barratt sold over 100,000 homes across the UK, more than any other housebuilder, and unveiled the Barratt Premier Collection of 50 new designs to suit all market sectors.

Redrow moved into the private homes sector during the 1980s and, through a combination of organic growth and acquisition, established a reputation as a quality national home builder.

Barratt builds over 10,000 new homes for the first time and becomes Britain’s No 1 housebuilder.

Redrow had also begun its expansion, moving into main contract building and embarking on its first major housing development at a site in Denbigh, North Wales.

The company is the first housebuilder to use TV advertising. A series of ads featuring actor Patrick Allen and the famous helicopter turn Barratt into a household name.

The Mayfair one-bedroom house is launched to meet a growing need for affordable new homes. It cost £7,000 and could be bought on just £9.00 a week mortgage – far less than renting.

After rapid expansion in the early 1970s, Barratt is now “building houses to make homes in” on over 100 developments throughout England and Scotland and selling more than 3,000 new homes a year.

Redrow was founded in 1974 as a small civil engineering company in North Wales. Steve Morgan was just 21 when he founded the company with a £5,000 loan from his father. The name originated from a combination of his address, Redwood Drive, and former address, Harrow Drive.

During the 1960s the company grew steadily, establishing its roots in the North-East before becoming listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1968.

The Barratt story begins in 1953. Sir Lawrie Barratt, then a young accountant, couldn’t afford to buy the house he wanted so built one himself instead. The four-bedroom home in Newcastle upon Tyne cost £1,750 and led to the formation of his first company in 1958.