Miller Homes

History

Sir James Miller (1905–1977) trained as an architect under his father before succeeding him at the helm of a then one-man practice. He designed and commissioned his first housing scheme in Blackhall in 1925, having been motivated by a developer’s lack of interest in the project. Expansion led to James' brothers, John and Lawrence, joining him and the business was incorporated as James Miller & Partners Limited in 1934. Miller soon became Edinburgh's leading housebuilder, building close to 500 houses a year during the 1930s.

The Second World War led to the cessation of private housebuilding and the start of Miller’s now extensive construction business. The return to housing after 1945 was via local authority work and it was not until the end of building controls in the early 1950s that Miller resumed private housing – often on its extensive pre-war land holdings. Housing operations were later extended to the south-east of England and Yorkshire. However, the group’s emphasis was more on its construction activities and housing sales rarely exceeded 500-600 a year.

The south of England housing subsidiary was sold to Kier Group in 1996 but, despite that, sales in the following year exceeded 1000 for the first time. The managing director then set out the group’s ambition to move into the top ten as a housebuilder. A series of regional acquisitions took sales to over 2000 a year and a target of 4000 a year was mooted in 2004. In 2005 Fairclough Homes (then building 1500 houses a year) was acquired virtually taking Miller to its 4000 target, although this fell substantially in the recession that followed. Then in July 2014 the company sold its construction division to Galliford Try.