company . for the company founder or other uses see george wimpey businessman and wimpy . george wimpey limited type private industry housebuilding founded 1880 headquarters london england uk key people john robinson chairman peter redfern ceo revenue 3 147.4 million 2006 operating income 362.1 million 2006 net income 218.0 million 2006 number of employees 6 050 2005 parent taylor wimpey website www.taylorwimpey.co.uk george wimpey was formed in 1880 and based in hammersmith operated largely as a road surfacing contractor . the business was acquired by godfrey mitchell in 1919 and he developed it into the uk s pre eminent construction and housebuilding firm . in 2007 wimpey merged with taylor woodrow to create taylor wimpey . wimpey was first listed on the london stock exchange in 1934 . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 the mitchell era 1.3 acquisitions and merger 2 tudor trust 3 operations 3.1 uk housebuilding 3.2 sponsorship 3.3 wimpey construction 3.4 wimpey minerals 3.5 north american operations 4 musical reference 5 references 6 sources 7 external links history edit early years edit the business was founded by george wimpey and walter tomes the latter sold out in 1893 as a stone working partnership in 1880 in hammersmith . 1 the company built hammersmith town hall in 1896 and went on to lay the foundations for the first electric tramway in london in the late 1890s . the company also built the 140 acre 0.57 km2 white city stadium complex which included a series of pavilions and gardens for the franco british exhibition of 1908 as well as an 80 000 seat olympic stadium for the 1908 olympic games . 2 the mitchell era edit george wimpey died in 1913 at the age of 58 . his family put the business up for sale in 1919 . godfrey way mitchell bought the firm and decided to retain the wimpey name . 3 sir godfrey mitchell remained george wimpey s executive chairman until 1973 . 4 mitchell built up a fleet of steam rollers and took contracts for public and private paving jobs . much of the work was for new housing estates and mitchell observed that the company could make more money as a developer than just as a contractor ; having tested this first with his own money he initiated the company s first residential development the greenford park estate in 1928 . 5 by 1930 wimpey was building around 500 houses a year rising to a peak of 1 370 in 1934 . however private housebuilding ceased on the outbreak of war in 1939 and wimpey concentrated on defence work . it built 93 aerodromes factories and army camps and finished the war as one of the country s largest contractors . 6 in the immediate post war period building controls prevented any substantial return to private housebuilding and wimpey turned instead to the local authority market and by the early 1950s wimpey was building 18 000 local authority houses a year . it was also expanding its building and civil engineering divisions particularly overseas where it became one of the larger international contractors . the end of building controls in 1954 allowed wimpey to re enter the private housing market . it did so in a substantial way through its regional structure becoming the country s first national housebuilder ; by 1972 wimpey was building private houses at an annual rate of 12 500 some three times the rate of its nearest competitor . 6 although wimpey experienced rising profits in the 1970s thanks to its middle east contracting the group was beginning to lose direction . godfrey mitchell may have retired as chairman in 1973 but he remained a director and a dominant figure until his eventual retirement from the board in 1981 following his 90th birthday . operational control was diffused between four joint managing directors and the regions rather than the centre were the dominant force . unlike some of the newer housebuilders wimpey s housing was mixed in operationally with its construction business . volumes declined and by the end of the 1980s private housing sales were down to around 5 000 houses a year . 6 acquisitions and merger edit despite attempts to change private housing remained contractor dominated but in 1995 the board announced a radical solution wimpey was to transfer its construction and minerals divisions to tarmac in return for the latter s housing division largely mclean homes . wimpey was once again selling 12 000 private houses a year . 7 two more major housing acquisitions followed both divisions of contractors seeking to focus on their core contracting business . in 2001 mcalpine homes was acquired from alfred mcalpine bringing with it a 4 000 houses a year business ; a year later wimpey bought the 1 200 houses a year laing homes from john laing . 6 in march 2007 the company announced plans for a 6 billion nil premium merger with taylor woodrow to be called taylor wimpey . 8 the merger was effected by means of a scheme of arrangement leaving the original taylor woodrow shareholders with 51 % of the new taylor wimpey . taylor woodrow provided the new chairman and finance director while the chief executive and the uk managing director came from wimpey . 9 tudor trust edit when mitchell took george wimpey public in 1934 he set up a unique ownership scheme wherein the charitable tudor trust held about half of the firm s shares . the tudor trust later diluted its stake to 5 % as a result of a rights issue from 34 % which was in itself steadily reduced over the years . just before the taylor wimpey merger on 2 july 2007 the tudor trust no longer held a reportable interest in its own name in george wimpey such interest being below the declarable 3 % threshold . 10 operations edit uk housebuilding edit george wimpey uk homes were sold under three distinct brands the core george wimpey brand the laing homes brand which had previously been used solely in the south east and midlands and the affordable g2 brand launched in 2006 . in the 1970s george wimpey became the uk s largest private house builder selling 106 440 homes in the decade and in the 1980s george wimpey began to reinforce wimpey homes as a brand focusing on quality compact housing . advertising featuring the famous wimpey cat ensured wimpey homes became a household name in house building . 11 by 2002 there were four uk brands wimpey homes mclean homes mcalpine homes and laing homes . under the leadership of the current chief executive peter redfern who was then head of uk housing the operations were merged and wimpey homes mclean homes and mcalpine homes were replaced with george wimpey under a new three dimensional purple and orange squares corporate identity . laing homes was retained due to its more up market status and its greater brand recognition . this brand disappeared in june 2008 as a result of the merger with taylor woodrow . 12 in 2006 george wimpey launched an affordable g2 brand focussing on one and two bedroom luxury apartments . its prime target markets were value conscious first time buyers and key workers . 13 sponsorship edit george wimpey was the main sponsor of st johnstone f.c. until 2008 09 when george wimpey and taylor woodrow merged . 14 wimpey construction edit wimpey logo in use in the 1990s wimpey logo in use in the 1970s and 1980s wimpey construction was one of the leading construction businesses in the uk canada and the middle east engaging in a wide range of building and civil engineering activities . major non housing construction projects have included the white city stadium completed in 1908 15 the team valley trading estate completed in 1938 16 heathrow airport completed in 1946 17 the clunie dam in scotland completed in 1950 18 the bank of china building in hong kong completed in 1952 19 the hirfanl dam in turkey completed in 1956 20 the loch shin dam in scotland completed in 1960 21 the furnas dam in brazil completed in 1963 22 the centre point building in london completed in 1966 23 the llyn brianne dam completed in 1972 24 the hsbc tower in hong kong completed in 1985 25 the gyle shopping centre completed in 1993 26 and the channel tunnel completed in 1994 . 27 wimpey minerals edit wimpey minerals was one of the largest aggregate coated stone and uk construction material producers with significant operations in the uk and united states and smaller operations overseas . 28 north american operations edit george wimpey also had operations in the united states trading under morrison homes which was acquired in 1984 when it was based in san francisco northern california . george wimpey later added to its us operations with the acquisition of richardson homes of denver colorado in 2001 . 29 morrison homes was initially founded in seattle in 1905 by c.g. morrison and moved to northern california in 1946 . operations were extended to cover phoenix central valley sacramento denver fort myers jacksonville orlando sarasota tampa reno austin dallas fort worth and houston . 30 musical reference edit along with sir robert mcalpine and john laing wimpey is mentioned in the opening preamble to the 1960 dominic behan satirical irish ballard mcalpine s fusiliers . 31 references edit white p. 2 bbc news uk magazine the 08 olympics ... 1908 that is . bbc.co.uk . retrieved 15 march 2015 . white p. 8 british housebuilders . google.com . retrieved 15 march 2015 . white p. 10 a b c d wellings fred dictionary of british housebuilders 2006 troubador . isbn 978 0 9552965 0 5 . merger document february 1996 bbc news business wimpey and woodrow agree to merge . bbc.co.uk . retrieved 15 march 2015 . merger documentation march 2007 tudor trust annual report and accounts 2007 08 history . george wimpey . retrieved 26 march 2016 . laing homes . nucleus . retrieved 27 march 2016 . wimpey to build 60 000 homes for first time buyers . building . 2006 . retrieved 27 march 2016 . football shirt forum topics in fsc forum 1 1 . footballshirtculture.com . retrieved 15 march 2015 . white p. 5 white p. 14 white p. 28 white p. 29 white p. 30 white p. 31 white p. 32 white p. 34 white p. 26 engineering timelines harvard design school bovis and wimpey hand over 68m gyle shopping centre construction news 14 october 1993 channel tunnel . structurae . retrieved 15 march 2015 . highways and transportation . institution of highways and transportation . 1993 . p. 15 . retrieved 27 march 2016 . interim results . george wimpey . 2001 . missing or empty url help ; access date requires url help morrison homes seventeenth builder to join builder homesite consortium . builder homesite . 29 march 2001 . retrieved 27 march 2016 . mcalpines fusiliers . free lyrics . retrieved 2009 05 16 . sources edit white valerie 1980 . wimpey the first hundred years . george wimpey . external links edit taylor wimpey plc v t e construction industry of the united kingdom construction economy of the united kingdom companies consultancies and support services amec amey arcadis architecture firms arup atkins faithful gould buro happold capita ch2m cundall davis langdon elliott wood expedition engineering flint & neill gifford hoare lea interserve mace mitie mott macdonald mouchel rps scott wilson sweett group wsp housebuilders current barratt bellway berkeley bloor boot bovis countryside properties crest nicholson keepmoat lend lease mccarthy & stone miller muir persimmon redrow taylor wimpey united house defunct ashtons beazer broseley bryant homes comben homes george wimpey ideal homes mclean homes taylor woodrow westbury william leech wilson bowden integrated construction balfour beatty bam nuttall carillion cleveland bridge & engineering clugston costain galliford try gleeson interserve kier laing