Charles Church Developments Ltd is a British upmarket housebuilding company which is headquartered in York, England. The company is named after its co-founder Mr Charles JG Church who established the business in 1965. After a series of complex restructurings and takeovers, the company has been a subsidiary of Persimmon plc since 2001.
History
Foundation
Charles Church was founded by Mr Charles JG Church and his wife Mrs Susanna B Church in 1965 as a luxurious residential developer in south-east England. It built one house in Camberley, Surrey and then used the proceeds to build four more houses before expanding further. It built its reputation on building top quality new homes to the highest standards, successfully growing during the late 1960s and 1970s. The company's rate of expansion grew during the 1980s. It had operations in residential developments, general construction, commercial properties as well as having operations in America. By 1985, the housebuilding arm consisted of three divisions, South East, Southern and Chiltern. It built on sites ranging from just one plot to up to 400 plots. It expanded into the London market in January 1987. In April 1987 the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange, as Charles Church Developments plc, to further its expansion. At the time, the Church family retained over 80% of the firm's shares. Mr Church was Chairman and Mrs Church was Quality Control Director. The company acquired County Homes in August 1987 to expand into Essex. It started building retirement homes in 1988. On 25 May 1989, just over two years after the company's public floatation, Charles Church Developments plc was taken private and de-listed from the London Stock Exchange by Charles Church Holdings plc, a company controlled by the Church family. On 1 July 1989, the company's co-founder and Chairman, Mr Charles JG Church, was killed in a plane crash at the age of 44. The Supermarine Spitfire aircraft which he was flying crashed on trying to land at Blackbushe Airport. He was one of the 200 richest people in the United Kingdom with a fortune of £140 million. He was survived by his wife Mrs Susanna B Church, two daughters and one son.
Restructuring
Following the death of Mr Church, Mrs Church assumed the role of Chairman. In the subsequent recession, the company suffered under the debts taken on when it was taken private by the Church family. The debts were restructured on 30 August 1991 and the company came under the control of its creditors, whereby if Charles Church met certain financial targets, control would pass back to the company's directors, i.e. the Chairman Mrs Church and her family. However, the company went through another financial restructuring during 1994, with the holding company becoming The Charles Church Group Limited. Mrs Church retired from the company on 29 June 1994 as a result of this reorganisation. Charles Church's lead creditor, Royal Bank of Scotland, bought out the other syndicate of banks for £22.6 million and became the sole owner of the company on 14 March 1996.
Subsequent takeovers
On 13 May 1996 Beazer Group plc, then the UK's third largest housebuilder, paid £35.7 million for Charles Church, including £3 million goodwill for the "Charles Church" brand name. Under Beazer's ownership, Charles Church grew from being a regional housebuilder in the south east of England to a nationwide residential developer throughout the United Kingdom. In 2001 Beazer was taken over by Persimmon plc who retained the £37 million "Charles Church" brand name for its most upmarket homes.
Operations
The company currently operates throughout the United Kingdom. It builds a full range of homes from one bedroom apartments to six bedroom luxury detached houses. The company's original headquarters Charles Church House in Knoll Road, Camberley, Surrey is still used by Persimmon today as the company's office for the Thames Valley division of both Persimmon and Charles Church, and the building has since been re-named Persimmon House.
Criticism
Since the takeover by Persimmon, Charles Church's practices and processes have been integrated with those of Persimmon, thus reducing its quality control as a consequence. Some Charles Church homes are now re-branded Persimmon house types with higher specification fittings. In 2014, Mr Church's son Mr Charles N Church criticised Persimmon for reducing the quality of Charles Church branded homes, saying that his father would be very upset by the homes built under his name today.
One of the most well known Charles Church housing estates is located in Martins Heron in Bracknell, Berkshire. The area lies within the former parkland and grounds of a mansion, Martins Herne, built around 1750 but demolished in the early 1980s, which was associated with minor nobility for much of its life, including the 18th-century British general, William Gordon. The house made way for a small estate of mainly large detached houses. It is the site of Harry Potter's uncle and aunt's house. The filmed version of the first of JK Rowling's famous stories, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was filmed partly on location. The external scenes with the actor Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Potter at his house were shot on location at a house in Picket Post Close, Martins Heron. However, according to the documentary Creating the World of Harry Potter, logistics made this location impractical as a long-term filming location, so a portion of the street was recreated on the backlot of Leavesden Film Studios.
