Bryant Homes was one of the larger UK housebuilders when it was acquired by

Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival housebuilder George Wimpey ...

in 2001; Bryant then became the principal housebuilding operation of the enlarged group. Taylor Woodrow merged with Wimpey in 2007 and during 2010 the Bryant brand was phased out. The company was first listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

in 1962.

History

The company was founded by Chris Bryant in 1885 and initially traded in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

as ''C. Bryant & Son''. The founder's son, Eb, took over the business in 1928, assisted by the more experienced Frank Russon, who joined the Board at the same time. Bryant confined itself to local contracting until 1936 when the first speculative housing site was acquired. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the company built new council housing to replace the slums in

as well as undertaking

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

work there. Bryant resumed private housing development in the early 1950s and in 1958 Roy Davies was appointed managing director of Bryant's housing subsidiary (then Bryant Estates). Davies was responsible for the expansion of Bryant into one of the largest housebuilders in the midlands.Wellings, Fred: ''Dictionary of British Housebuilders'' (2006) Troubador. . The late 1970s brought problems for Bryant. Summonses for corruption were issued against the Company and certain directors in 1977 and losses were incurred in Saudi Arabia in 1978: "Let’s face it, 1978 has not been our year." Bryant had confined its housing to its midlands home territory until 1976 when it opened a small southern region, but it was not until the early 1990s that regional expansion began on a wider scale. By the end of the decade, Bryant was building over 4,000 houses a year on a national basis. In January 2001, the company was acquired by

. In 2007, Taylor Woodrow merged with

George Wimpey George Wimpey Limited was a British construction firm that typically worked in the civil engineering and housebuilding markets. It was, during the 1970s, the largest homebuilder active in the UK. Established in 1880 and originally based in H ...

to form

Taylor Wimpey Taylor Wimpey plc (formerly Taylor Woodrow plc) is one of the largest home construction companies in the United Kingdom. The company was created from the merger of rivals Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey on 3 July 2007. It is listed on the Lond ...

References

{{Construction industry of the United Kingdom Design companies established in 1885 Housebuilding companies of the United Kingdom