Dozens of new jobs and hundreds of homes have been created by Castle Green Homes during a successful first year for the rebranded business.
The company rebrand was completed in November 2020, just six weeks after chief executive Gwyn Jones completed a management buyout of Macbryde Homes, backed by long-term finance partner Bridgemere UK.
Headquartered in St Asaph, the company has experienced a period of rapid growth since then and has more ambitious plans for the future.
The business has already increased its workforce by 35% since the rebrand, and now directly employs 83 people with a focus on bringing in young and enthusiastic people to the team.
From its North Wales heartland, where it has eight live outlets and two partnership developments, Castle Green is expanding rapidly into the North West of England. Queensbury Manor in Meols, Wirral, has achieved sell-out success, while the business recently launched a development of 145 new homes in Warrington, part of the Omega site, which is the largest mixed-use development in the North West.
Most recently, the housebuilder has opened a second office at Preston Brook, near Warrington, providing approximately 7,780 sq ft of space and potential to accommodate 70 staff. This will support the growth of the business in the North West.
In the financial year ended March 31, 2021 Castle Green Homes:
- completed 213 homes – almost double the previous year (114)
- increased turnover to £54 million (compared to £21m the previous year)
- sold 253 homes (compared with 135 the year before)
Chief executive Gwyn Jones said:
“Just one year in, we’re already making huge strides to delivering on a five-year growth plan, which includes expanding our geographic footprint and further improving our green credentials. We’re now Carbon Neutral and working towards reducing our environmental impact so that we’re below net zero by March 2023. In the last financial year, we delivered almost double the number of homes than in the previous year and increased turnover by 157% to £54 million. Maintaining that momentum and acquiring additional land with development potential will be key to our continued success.
“Willow Fields in Warrington is part of a major push into the North West property market. We’ve previously built in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire and the Wirral as Macbryde, and have our sell-out Queensbury Manor development in Meols, but Willow Fields represents a significant part of our plans to increase our presence across the region. We’re also working to deliver 200 homes in the Sefton village of Thornton.
“Going hand in hand with our expansion plans, we recently opened our second office at Preston Brook, near Warrington, signalling out commitment to and facilitating our North West growth.”
Closer to Castle Green’s St Asaph HQ, four more Welsh sites covering 64.5 acres of land were secured at the start of 2021; at Rhosrobin and Rossett in the Wrexham area, in Penyffordd, Flintshire and in Bangor, Gwynedd. Between them, these developments will deliver 427 new homes plus substantial investment in those communities.
The name Castle Green encapsulates the core values behind its team and homes. ‘Castle’ conveys the company’s heritage; while ‘Green’ underpins its aspiration to deliver homes in line with the Government’s Green Revolution pledge.
As part of its drive to become more sustainable, the business has just agreed to plant 300 sustainable rubber trees in Guatemala as part of its carbon offsetting – that’s one per home Castle Green builds this year.
And, while the business has increased the number of homes it delivers, it remains committed to delivering high standards. Earlier this year Castle Green retained its 5-star customer satisfaction rating in the annual industry-wide survey conducted by the Home Builders Federation (HBF), with more than 93% of Castle Green customers saying they would recommend the North Wales based company to family and friends looking for a new home.
For more information about Castle Green see www.castlegreenhomes.uk.
