Member Article

Persimmon appoints new Thames Valley MD

Putting quality and customer care at the forefront of all operations is the priority of the new managing director of one of the UK’s leading housebuilders.

Ian Beal has been appointed to head up the Persimmon Homes Thames Valley regional business, based in Camberley, bringing with him more than four decades of experience within the industry.

He said: “I am delighted to join Persimmon Homes and play my part in growing the business while also maintaining and enhancing the positive changes implemented recently in areas such as consistent quality and customer satisfaction.”

Over the past two years Persimmon has undergone a comprehensive review of operations, resulting in the introduction of ‘The Persimmon Way’ – a national framework for construction and customer care quality which is transforming the business.

Ian added: “The business here is in really good shape thanks in no small part to the hard work of my predecessor Ben Felton and I see no reason why we can’t maintain the HBF five star quality status achieved by Ben.

“We’ll do that by continuing to focus on high standards of quality and ensuring the customer is at the centre of what we do.

“Persimmon offers an excellent product of good value, quality homes, and my aim is to very quickly grow that offering and the business – part of which will mean bolstering our land bank and pushing hard on difficult planning applications.

“Here in the Thames Valley region we have a really healthy land bank but it is being constrained by planning; I don’t want us caught out by changes in legislation that result in sites that would have received permission six months ago no longer meeting the requirements of the planning system. I want us two to three steps ahead.

“And while our key drivers are quality and performance, I’m also keen to establish close links with suppliers and sub-contractors, so that they can see what we’re doing and what our goals are in order to bring them on board to embrace our ideals.”

After studying Building Technology and Surveying at Buckinghamshire New University, Ian spent the first period of his career in the technical departments of numerous companies in the south, before being appointed MD to head up a new region for Redrow Homes in the late 90s.

His success saw him head hunted for a similar role by Wilson Connelly, before leaving to join Miller Homes as Area Managing Director in 2004 and establishing their new Basingstoke office, overseeing the southern region. Similar positions followed at Bellway and Dandara before joining Persimmon.

Housebuilding runs in the family with Ian’s grandfather having worked at a brick works, his father for Tarmac Maclean, while his daughter Lauren is a Quantity Surveyor at Barratt Homes. Both Lauren and son Jonathan, senior press officer at Arts University Bournemouth, have young sons who keep Ian and his wife Louise busy in their spare time.

Persimmon Homes Thames Valley is delivering much needed new homes across Hampshire, Berkshire, Mid Sussex and West Sussex.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Taylor .