The housebuilder transforming Denham Film Studios into a movie-inspired setting for 224 houses and apartments is about to launch the largest recruitment drive the construction industry has seen in more than ten years.

Weston Homes needs to take on 350 new staff over the next 18-24 months to deliver the 7,500 properties that are on the drawing board for development. 

The company’s area of operation is outer London, the home counties and the wider south east. Currently the firm has a workforce of 430.

Bob Weston, the housebuilder’s chairman and chief executive who founded the company in 1987 says the order book will be worth £2bn when the homes are built. 

The business is expected to double over the next five years.
He explains: “We have £297m of forward sales and 7,500 units in the pipeline. 

“Demand is outstripping supply for homes priced from £300 to £800 per square foot which is our main market. 

“One of the biggest challenges facing us and the wider construction industry at present is finding new staff hence the huge recruitment drive we are rolling out over the coming months.”

The job vacancies are across the board: engineering, planning and design, technical, commercial and construction.

Existing staff are being offered a cash incentive of up to £2,500 if they recommend  a friend who is recruited. 

Employees receive a generous package including a discount if they buy a property built by the company, also private health care for themselves and family members aged up to 25, a company car or an allowance, pension, subsidised restaurant and enhanced maternity/paternity pay. 

About a third of the 350 jobs being created over the next two years will be based on site, the rest will be at the developer’s headquarters in London and Stansted.

The boss states: “While stamp duty may have slowed the super-prime sector [homes priced above £10m] our core business - starter homes and family-sized houses -  is booming.”

In November this year the developer is due to open a massive 75,000 sq ft distribution centre in Stansted. 
Bob Weston says the multi million pound complex will accelerate the firm’s build-off-site programme. 

“It will bring Jaguar motor car precision and technology into the home building industry.

“It will have state-of-the-art computer-monitored warehousing, assembly lines, robots and wire-guided forklift trucks for production line assembly of kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, tiling and other components ready for delivery to site.”

Volume housebuilders across the country are all gearing up to take on more staff.

Galliard Homes, London’s largest  privately-owned housebuilder has announced it will be taking on 120  new employees over the next couple of years.

The development company founded in 1992 has increased staff by 40 per cent over the past four years. The total now tops 700. 

The firm’s wage bill is £19 million. 

The company is currently building 6,848 homes. 
There are a further 5,990 in the planning pipeline. Regionally it has sites in the Midlands, the South and the South West. 

Altogether there are 44 projects underway with a gross value of £4.5bn. 

Like most housebuilders, it needs extra staff in all departments – construction, architecture and planning, design, investment and development, property management, sales, marketing and after sales service.

A spokesman said: “Nineteen of the 37 new sites bought in the latest financial year are in London and 18 outside the capital.

"The properties we are building range from starter homes from £149,995 up to London penthouses for £4m."

In the latest financial year Galliard had a turnover of £392m, pre-tax profits of £113m and £2.1bn of forward sales.

Following on from last week’s feature on apprenticeships (‘Building An Exciting Career’ – Property August 10) a spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey’s head office in Wycombe said the group “has more than 600 people in early talent programmes at any one time".

This year the company has recruited 80 management trainees and expects to recruit more than 100 trade apprentices.

“Taylor Wimpey has close links with Buckinghamshire University Technical College and Aylesbury UTC. We also run a site manager trainee programme which aims to equip people coming out of college or university with the leadership skills to manage a site themselves in the future,” said the spokesman.

More details of the Taylor Wimpey apprenticeships are available on the company website.