Cala Homes Cotswolds appoints new land director to support growth in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Solihull

By Peter Davison

21 June 2023

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Charles Rafferty

Housebuilder Cala Homes (Cotswolds) has announced the appointment of Charles Rafferty as Land Director. Charles will lead the business’ land and planning team to meet its ambitious growth plans to deliver over 1,600 much-needed new homes across their expanded operating area covering Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Solihull, over the next four years.

Charles brings over 10 years of land and planning experience gained in the housebuilding sector, most recently as Land Director at Redrow Homes. With his track record in Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties, Charles’ main focus will be to support the existing land team to expand the business from its former Midlands-focused operating area.

As part of this expansion, the region recently relocated its head office from Solihull to Oxford Technology Park, positioning the team at the heart of the region. The business has also bolstered its existing team with Sam Taylor being promoted to Area Land Director and additional new appointments made with Becky Pull as Senior Planner and Luke Alexander as Land Buyer.

Commenting on his appointment, Charles said: “I’m delighted to be joining the Cotswolds team at such an exciting time and look forward to drawing on my local knowledge and connections in the area to drive our regional expansion. Cala Cotswolds has a healthy land pipeline of future sites with over 800 new homes either currently going through the planning process or recently receiving consent, including a new phase of 287 homes at our popular Nobel Park scheme in Didcot.

“Key developments in our portfolio demonstrate the wide-ranging capability of the team I’m joining. At our Fernleigh Park development, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, we are the lead developer on the first phase of 400 homes of the proposed garden village and our development in Alderton, Gloucestershire is Cala’s first wholly timber frame scheme in England and marks a significant milestone in our journey to net zero.

“With our focus on land opportunities within Oxfordshire and our wider regional patch, we’re looking for sites in towns and larger villages where, through our value-add approach and industry-leading design, we can deliver high-quality and sustainable homes for new and existing communities.”

Andrew Dicker, Managing Director at Cala Homes Cotswolds, added: “We warmly welcome Charles to our team who has strong experience and knowledge of our target areas, which will support our growth and delivery across our larger patch.

“Since 2016, Cala has delivered over 2000 new homes to the region, resulting in over £11 million of investment in local communities via our Section 106 commitments. The bolstering of the team following recent promotions and our recruitment drive will help us to continue Cala’s success in the region, delivering sensitively designed, high quality, sustainable housing and essential amenities, through close collaboration with landowners, local communities, land agents and local authorities.”

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.