Basingstoke: Bewley Homes celebrates 30th anniversary with a mission

Bewley Homes is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021 with a number of initiatives designed to promote the housebuilding sector to a younger audience and inspire a new generation.

The campaigns, which will be targeting primary and secondary schools, will highlight the wide-ranging careers young people can enjoy in house building. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, Bewley is hopeful of launching the campaigns towards the end of the year.

Founded in 1991, Basingstoke-based Bewley Homes first development was only eight homes near Reading, but it soon started to build bigger sites. It has now completed more than 300 developments and sold over 5,000 homes in three decades. Bewley has built an enviable reputation for quality homes in desirable locations in the home counties.

The company has grown rapidly since the last significant milestone and now employs 150 people across its sites in the home counties, Oxfordshire and South Buckinghamshire.

In the next five years, Bewley Homes is looking to double the size of its business, open up a new regional office and expand its geographical reach further. Active in the market, in the last six months, the land team has 15 sites exchanged or under progression accounting for 2,500 units.

Andrew Brooks, managing director at Bewley Homes, said: “It’s not the easiest time to celebrate a major milestone. We accept we can’t roll out our school campaigns at the moment, so we anticipate launching later in the year and run them into 2022, when we can engage safely.”

He continued: “We know there’s a common misconception by young people that a career in the housebuilding industry is all about working outdoors on muddy, cold sites performing manual tasks.

“We are looking to enlighten a younger audience to all the different opportunities for roles in our sector, including finance, sales, marketing, technical, architecture, land and planning, as well as construction. We employ several subcontractors, who started on the tools, and now run their own multi-million-pound companies. They are an inspiration for entrepreneurship and have amazing stories to tell.”

Brooks added: “This anniversary is a testimony to many people’s hard work year after year. We wanted to mark 30 years by putting something back into the industry which has served us so well and aim to inspire the next generation of workers.”

Safety has become a watchword within Bewley through the company’s 'people first' ethos which has not changed over the years, whether applied to customers, staff or suppliers. Bewley responded to the pandemic with great effort and empathy to support both customers and staff putting both health and safety at the forefront of its operations and it continues to do so.

During the first lockdown, the company also introduced its popular Blue Light Card holder incentives, offering key workers a unique discount scheme on a selection of Bewley homes. This helped a number of NHS workers and first responders to get onto the housing ladder.

Last year, Bewley scooped silver for Best Medium Housebuilder at the What House Awards and has amassed some 40 national awards over its 30-year period.

Bewley is also committed to supporting local charities, communities and sports clubs where it can. Recently it has become the main sponsor of Hungerford FC, who play in the Vanarama National League South, coming to the rescue when three of the club’s sponsors pulled out during the first lockdown. Over the last few years, it has also handed over thousands of pounds to Guide Dogs for the Blind.

As restrictions relax, Bewley will also be looking to step up its fundraising efforts during 2021 and the company hopes to announce a campaign later in the year.

For more information and prices www.bewley.co.uk