High Grange

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by High Grange's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from High Grange is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

www.highgrange.com

19HIGH GRANGE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Managing Director Gary Reed

Keekle Rise at Keekle

Meadows

High Grange Developments construct homes and estates

in Cumbria. Situated on the edge of the Lake District

National Park, they utilise traditional construction methods

that complement the surrounding environment, which has

recently been awarded United Nations World Heritage Site

status. Having been repeatedly recognised for the quality of their

construction, they were awarded the LABC Bricks Development

of the Year Award for their Keekle Meadows project. Managing

Director Gary Reed oversees these developments and explains to

TheParliamentary Review

the benefits of being a small company

and their commitment to tailoring each home to each individual.

We have been operating for 20 years as a limited company, committed to providing

quality homes in our local area of Cumbria. We are a family firm and are based

in the historic Georgian town of Whitehaven, operating on the edge of the Lake

District National Park. We are very selective when deciding locations for our

developments, and we actively limit the number of homes we build each year to

ensure the highest level of quality. We are committed to undertaking our work in

a meticulous manner, utilising traditional construction techniques that have been

passed down by previous generations. We are a small company but possess a

particularly loyal and long-serving workforce, all of whom are highly skilled in their

respective specialities, which ensures the quality of our product.

We primarily undertake construction projects in rural areas. As we live in a

beautiful part of the country, we are blessed with an abundance of choice, and we

endeavour to identify the most suitable sites for our clients. We tailorour product

FACTS ABOUT

HIGH GRANGE

»Managing Director: Gary Reed

»Founded in 1998

»Based in Cumbria

»Services: Design and

construction of specialised

homes

»No. of employees: 19

»No. of clients: 16 annually

»www.highgrange.com

High Grange

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

20 | HIGH GRANGE

to each location to ensure that it

is sympathetic to the surrounding

environment. As we limit the

number of houses we build each

year to 16, we can afford to take

the time to ensure that each house

is perfectly suited to its location. As

an example, we recently constructed

a small estate beside a Grade I listed

priory. Architectural sensitivity was

paramount in this instance, and we

embraced the challenge of maintaining

uniformity between the priory and

ourdevelopment.

Collaborating with our clients

Every home that we build is unique.

We consult each client at the

foundation stage and collaborate

to ensure that the home is created

with the client’s preferences and

requirements in mind. A major part of

our public appeal is this specificity. We

always specialise each of our products

while ensuring that our clients have

access to the most modern and

efficient interior designs, materials and

specifications, subject to their tastes

and requirements.

The majority of our clients are based

in the local area, and around 90 per

cent of our business is gained through

client referrals. We do not spend

money on advertising – it is simply the

quality and specificity of our service

that continue to sustain client interest.

Recently, demand has significantly

increased. This has been caused by an

influx of executives and workers who

are employed in the nuclear industry.

Average nuclear industry salaries are

higher than the national average, and

Cumbria has the largest concentration

of nuclear workers anywhere in the

UK. The industry employs a diverse

workforce that accordingly demands

different types of housing. To meet

this demand, we have been developing

a variety of properties. This high level

of demand has meant that anyone

currently placing an order will have

to wait 14 months before receiving

a front door key. Despite this, the

order books are overflowing – a clear

indication of the health of the market

and the demand for ourproduct.

Over our 20 years of operations, we

have received various awards, most

recently the LABC Bricks Development

of the Year Award in 2018 for the

construction of the Keekle Meadows

development. To win this national

award for the third year in a row, as

Views at Keekle

Meadows

Every home

that we build

is unique

“

21HIGH GRANGE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

a small developer based in Cumbria,

speaks volumes about our ethos:

we build our houses to a standard

rather than a timescale, and we pride

ourselves on our attention to detail.

Maintaining tradition

Our success is built upon traditional

artisanship. Modern construction

techniques may be more cost-effective,

but we prefer to maintain and develop

traditional skills that ensure that we

remain different to other developers.

We are consistently inspired by this,

and our culture and commitment to

quality ensure that we retain these

essential skills. Our rural setting

complements these methods, and an

overly contemporary style would not

fit with the beauty of our surrounding

environment. We are always looking to

develop our construction techniques,

but we will continue to build with a

group of core, traditional materials.

We welcome legislation that ensures

high building standards. Any legislation

that encourages better building

practices has to be welcomed, and

we are always striving to improve

our own techniques. While we

employ traditional methods, we

still ensure that our houses are as

environmentally friendly as possible.

We consider all possible methods to

achieve this, including assessing energy

conservation, the disposal of waste and

other environmental consequences.

More-regular reviews on a national

scale would be a beneficial step

for the industry and would make

sure that all developers fulfil their

environmentalobligations.

The major issue in our sector, and

indeed across the country as a whole,

is the uncertainty that surrounds Brexit.

While we are not concerned about the

immediate future, we are unable to

predict what the situation might be in

a year’s time. The uncharted territory

of a post-Brexit Britain has prevented

us from making any definitive plans,

and we are largely unable to prepare

for its outcomes, primarily because no

one knows what they will be. There

will certainly be an impact, but, at this

time, we cannot know what form that

will take. We are certain, however, that

quality of the product that we provide

will ensure that there will always be

demand for our services, regardless of

the wider economic situation.

Looking forward, we are focusing on

sustainable growth and a continued

commitment to the quality of our

product. We are successful because

we are small, flexible and able to

prioritise quality. We would not want

growth at the expense of any of these

core elements. We have no intention

to increase our annual output, as this

would likely be detrimental to our

overall standards. By continuing to

adhere to our traditional construction

techniques and ensuring that each

client is involved in the development

of their home, we are confident that

we will be able to continue to provide

the high level of service that has

established us a local leader and a

national exemplar.

We are

successful

because we are

small, flexible

and able to

prioritise

quality

“

Mariners Way

development

www.highgrange.com

This article was sponsored by High Grange. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister