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

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

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 Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy