Mr. Bennett: Westbury is one of the top ten volume house builders in the UK. It was formed in 1965, very much as a small company based here in Gloucestershire and over the next 20 years, grew into one of the largest private housebuilders in the UK. In the middle of the 1980s it became a public company, floated on the London Stock Exchange and from then the current business has developed. It's a regionalized business and the local management of each region have the autonomy to run their businesses, but within the systems and controls imposed by the Westbury Group. We have eight regional offices and we sell around 4000 new homes a year. As I say, that places us as one in the top ten British house builders.
TWST: Can you give us an idea of the specific regions you operate in?
Mr. Bennett: In all we have eight regional operations, covering over 40 counties in England and Wales. Over the last 3-4 years, we have had a couple of acquisitions. One was called Clarke Homes from the BICC Group, which was a private purchase forming our Southern region servicing the South East of England. And then in 1998, we bought another plc - the John Maunders Group - to form our North West region centered in the Manchester area. We also have regional offices in Nottingham, covering the East Midlands and South Yorkshire; Northampton, covering an area north of London and the M1 and A1 corridors; Wolverhampton, covering the West Midlands; Gloucester, covering Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire; and Bristol, covering the South West. We are also the biggest house builder in South Wales, with a regional office in Cardiff. Westbury is very much a household name in England and South Wales, but we do not operate within London and within the M25 boundary surrounding London because we consider that to be very much a specialist market. Westbury is very much an estate developer but with an increasing number of apartment complexes in some city centers and waterfront locations.
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