Taylor Wimpey, the UK´s leading housing and development companies, is the owner of the Seve Ballesteros Golf Course, Los Arqueros Golf situated in Marbella in the southern Spain , since year 1996. But in those years they where Taylor Woodrow, and here is something of their story:
In 1921 the 16-year old Frank Taylor borrowed 400 pounds to build 2 houses in Blackpool. As he was too young to for his own company, his uncle Jack Woodrow lent his name to the business and “Taylor Woodrow” was born. In 1958 Frank Taylor visited the island of Mallorca with his new wife Christine, to spend their honeymoon. They both fell in love with Mallorca. A meeting between Frank Taylor and Jaime Ballester, a local chartered surveyor, moved the Mallorca business forward. Today his son, Javier Ballester, is the current General Manager of Taylor Wimpey in Spain which has grown to incorporate not only new developments in Mallorca, but also Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol. In 2007, George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow merged to form Taylor Wimpey. Both companies have a proud and illustrious heritage, with a history of successful homebuilding and construction. Though based in the UK, both companies have worked across parts of Europe, the United States, Australia, Asia and Africa. In the UK, the two companies had an important role in creating and improving homes and communities and regenerating urban areas. Both Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey were household names, particularly in the field of homebuilding, which is the area that we, as Taylor Wimpey, are now focused on. Our company is the product of these decades of experience and expertise. We have continually adapted to changing needs, environments, and regulations to improve our business.
TAYLOR WOODROW chronology:
1921: 16-year-old Frank Taylor builds two homes in Blackpool. As he was too young to form his own company his uncle Jack Woodrow lent his name to the business. Initially Taylor & Woodrow, which later became Taylor Woodrow Limited.
1930: Contributes to the war effort, building an ordnance factory, airfields, a penicillin factory, and helping construct the Mulberry ports, used in France after the D-Day landings.
1935: Becomes a public traded company. First employee newsletter published with a photo of three men pulling a rope. 20 years later this inspires the Taylor Woodrow logo.
1936: Now building on average more than 50 homes a week. Frank Taylor makes his first American land purchase.
1937: Expands into contracting and civil engineering, forming Taylor Woodrow Construction Limited. This became the mainstay of Taylor Woodrow’s operations for the next 60 years.
1948: Now building houses, schools and factories in England, North America and Africa.
1950: Receives its first major office-building contract.
1951: Expands its operations into Australia.
1953: Begins construction on the world’s first full-scale nuclear power station. Taylor Woodrow Canada is formed. Buys stake in Monarch Mortgage and Investments Limited.
1954: Begins two decades of construction at London Heathrow Airport and now has projects underway on every continent.
1960: Appointed main contractor to build the New Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King at Liverpool in 1960.
1966: Taylor Woodrow International builds the Hong Kong Ocean Terminal and receives the prestigious Queen’s Award for its development of a new silent piledriver, the Pilemaster.
1968: Taylor Woodrow constructs an aluminium smelter in Invergordan, Scotland, for the British Aluminium Company
1970: Taylor Woodrow begins The St. Katherine’s Dock project in London: one of the most ambitious private urban developments ever undertaken in the city.
1980: Becomes a founding member of the Channel Tunnel Group (later TransManche Link).
1994: The Chunnel, the rail tunnel beneath the English Channel, opens. Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey are two of the five UK contractors to work on the project.
1999: Taylor Woodrow begins Greenwich Millenium Village (GMV), London: the first of the Government’s Millenium Communities and part of the Thames Gateway regeneration project.
2001: Buys the Bryant Group and begins selling homes as ‘Bryant Homes by Taylor Woodrow’.
2003: Taylor Woodrow beings building Stamford Brook in Cheshire, developed in partnership with the National Trust, providing 710 homes and built using pioneering technologies.
2007: George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow merge to create the UK’s largest housebuilder, Taylor Wimpey
GEORGE WIMPEY chronology:
1880: George Wimpey sets up a UK stone working business in Hammersmith
1890: Begins roadwork for London’s first electric tramway
1907: Begins building tramways and roadways for Middlesex County Council and the 1908 London Olympics
1919: Becomes a private company as GW Mitchell purchased it from the Wimpey family. The company expanded the road contracting business and became established as a household name in the fields of building and civil engineering.
1930: Begins building an average of 1,200 houses a year.
1934: Becomes a public company.
1947: Perfects the ‘no fines’ technique, allowing walls to be poured with no fine aggregate in the concrete and homes to be constructed without bricks. The method provided excellent insulation and was used to build more homes for local authorities than any other system
1950: Builds 18,000 Local Authority homes a year in the UK. It also builds its first Canadian housing development, and begins building three power stations in Hong Kong.
1954: Begins building houses for private sale again and wins the contract to build its first hydroelectric plant.
1961: Wimpey Construction builds The Queen Elizabeth II grandstand at Ascot, built in just 10 months ready for the Royal Ascot Meeting in June 1961
1968: Wimpey Construction builds the world’s largest shipbuilding dock in Belfast
1969: Wimpey Construction builds Britain’s highest dam, at Lllyn Brianne in Wales
1970: George Wimpey Canada builds 2,000 homes in one year.
1975: Launches the development arm Wimpey Property Holdings.
1980: Becomes the UK’s largest private housebuilder, selling 106,440 homes in the previous decade. Becomes a founding member of the Channel Tunnel Group (later TransManche)
1984: LinkBuys American homebuilder Morrison Homes
1994: The Chunnel, the rail tunnel beneath the English Channel, opens. George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow are two of the five UK contractors to work on the project
1996: Morrison Homes in the USA begins construction of ‘Celebration’. A pioneering concept, based on community values and an innovative combination of neo-traditional architecture, education, health and technology.
2001: Successfully completes merger of Wimpey Homes and McLean homes to form a single UK housing business. Buys McAlpine Homes in the UK, and Richardson Homes in the US.
2005: George Wimpey’s Highgate development in Durham is awarded ‘Building for Life’ Gold standard
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