Foundation estate in
Guildford Church, a civil engineering graduate, started his own commercial contracting company in 1965 called Burke and Church. It was set up as a luxurious residential developer in south-east England. It built one house in
Camberley,
Surrey in 1967 and then used the proceeds to build four more houses before expanding further. Church then started a joint venture with Martin Grant, a carpenter, to enable the financing of 125 plots in
Lightwater in
Surrey. It then purchased 1,000 plots at
Merrow Park in
Guildford in
Surrey. This enabled Burke and Church to have a yearly volume of 400 homes a year. The joint venture between Church and Grant was phased out in 1972, with Church setting up Charles Church Developments with his wife, Susanna Church and Grant setting up Martin Grant Homes.
Expansion in
Bracknell 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. It started building retirement homes in 1988. In 1988, the group sold 575 houses at around £500,000 each generating profits of £18 million. 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 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, two daughters and one son.
Restructurings Following the death of Church his wife 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 and her family.
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. The previous year, Charles Church sold 193 units at around £180,000 each generating profits of £4.1 million before interest charges of around £3 million. 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. ==Operations==