Housing specialist goes for growth in East Midlands with jobs plan
The regional commercial director of a fast-expanding housing specialist has told TheBusinessDesk.com of the firm’s ambition for rapid growth in the East Midlands.
Beth Bundonis, who has worked her way up through the ranks after 20 years at Lovell, says her ambition for the business is to make East Midlands operation as successful as its West Midlands counterpart.
Lovell opened an East Midlands office on Pride Park, Derby, in December after being delayed in its ambition by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, Bundonis told us that Lovell is already making up for lost time in the region.
She said: “The pipeline of projects is very healthy, and we’ve started on five sites since the turn of the year. In Juky we’ll start work on another in Burton, and then later in the year at Desborough – both of which will create jobs.”
Lovell sees the importance in giving youth a chance – Bundonis is real life proof of this – and she says the firm intends to invest in East Midlands apprentices as it goes forward, as well as create around a dozen office-based roles in the Pride Park base.
She added: “We’re working with a mixture of contracting jobs for the likes of EMH in Leicester and Compendium in Derby. The second phase of works has begun at the Corby urban extension known as Priors Hall Park Northamptonshire.”
Bundonis said that the medium-term aim for Lovell is to replicate the success of Lovell’s West Midlands operation. S
She said: “We aim to run on a par with West Midlands in five years time. The East Midlands is a very different region to the West Midlands, but we’ve got to strive for it – we’re going to make this business successful.”
In February, Lovell announced record profits.
Figures reported by parent company Morgan Sindall Group, the construction and regeneration group, reveal that Lovell has doubled its profit compared to 2020.
Group revenue rose 6% from 2020, delivering an adjusted operating profit of £131.3m (FY 2020: £68.5m) on revenue of £3.2bn (FY 2020: £3n). The group reported a secured order book of £8.6bn, up 4% on the year end.
Revenue at Lovell for the year was up 21% to £572m (FY 2020: £474m). Operating profit increased substantially, more than doubling to £33.2m, an increase of 108% (FY 2020: £16m).
