Miller Homes

Miller Homes is a housebuilder based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1934, as part of the previous Miller Group. Its corporate headquarters is in Edinburgh. Since its inception, Miller Homes has built over 100,000 homes.

Miller Homes
TypePrivate company
IndustryHousebuilding
Founded1934
HeadquartersEdinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
Websitemillerhomes.co.uk

History

Sir James Miller (1905–1977) trained as an architect under his father, James Miller, 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.[1] Miller soon became Edinburgh's leading housebuilder, building close to five hundred houses a year during the 1930s.[2]

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 beginning of the 1950s, that Miller resumed private housing – often on its extensive pre war land holdings.

Housing operations were later extended to the South East England and Yorkshire. However, the group's emphasis was more on its construction activities, and housing sales rarely exceeded five hundred to six hundred a year.[2]

Privas Court, a housing development in Wetherby, West Yorkshire seen here under construction in March 2016.

The South of England housing subsidiary was sold to Kier Group in May 1996, but, despite that, sales in the following year exceeded 1,000 for the first time. The managing director then set out the group's ambition to move into the top ten as a housebuilder.[3] A series of regional acquisitions took sales to over 2,000 a year, and a target of 4,000 a year was mooted in April 2004.[4]

In September 2005, Fairclough Homes (then building 1,500 houses a year) was acquired virtually taking Miller to its 4,000 target,[2] although this fell substantially in the recession that followed. Then in July 2014, the company sold its construction division to Galliford Try.[5]

References
  1. Miller Diamond Jubilee booklet,1994
  2. Wellings, Fred: Dictionary of British Housebuilders (2006) Troubador. ISBN 978-0-9552965-0-5,
  3. Group accounts, 1999
  4. Housebuilder April 2004
  5. "Galliford Try buys Miller Construction for £16.6m". The Scotsman. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
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