Operating income Website www.wates.co.uk Founder Edward Wates Type of business Privately held company | Net income £22.9 million (2015) Revenue 1.272 billion GBP (2015) Founded 1897 | |
 | ||
Industry Engineering / Construction / Property Services / Residential Development / Facilities Management Headquarters Leatherhead, United Kingdom CEO Andrew Davies (6 Jan 2014–) Subsidiaries Linden Wates (West Hampstead) Limited Profiles | ||
James wates chairman of wates group on running the family business
The Wates Group is one of the UK’s largest family-owned construction, property services and development companies.
Contents
History
Established by Edward Wates in 1897, the Company expanded into speculative housebuilding and general contracting in the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II it was involved in building the Mulberry harbours.
In March 2015, it was reported that Wates would take over most of the Shepherd group's construction operations. Two months later, it was confirmed that Wates would take over Shepherd Engineering Services (SES), Shepherd Facilities Management and various contracts held by its loss-making Shepherd Construction arm (Wates refused to take on Shepherd’s problematic Colindale mixed residential and retail development), with some 1,200 staff transferring to Wates in September 2015. The Wates deal was concluded on 1 October 2015, being valued at £9.8m, with Shepherd booking a £2.8m profit after taking account of costs for the sale.
Operations
The group is split into five business units: Construction, Living Space, Smartspace, Residential Developments and Needspace?. There is also Wates Giving, a charitable foundation which has given away over £9.6m since 2008. Wates works across a range of sectors including education, public sector frameworks (BSF, Ministry of Justice Home Office), affordable housing, retail fit out and refurbishment, office interiors, land development and commercial buildings. Wates runs Building Futures, an education programme for the long-term unemployed. It is accredited by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance.
Major projects
Major projects include:
Awards
It won the Building magazine Major Contractor of the Year award in 2009, 2010 and in 2016, with CEO Andrew Davies named CEO's CEO of the Year in 2016.