Bargate Homes prepares for 20th year and 100th development

Hampshire-headquartered Bargate Homes will be commencing its 20th year in January 2025 with onsite enabling works for the firm’s 100th development.

Established in 2006, the multi-award-winning regional housebuilder has defied complex challenges across the industry with consistent growth over the past three years. 275 energy-efficient houses and apartments – with an average selling price of £440,000 – will be handed over to customers before the end of the 2024/5 financial year. The firm’s growth trajectory is supported by live planning applications equating to a total gross development value in the region of £460m.

Named Shepherd’s Green, Bargate’s 100th development obtained a resolution to grant planning permission in 2023. Located off Everton Road in Hordle, Hampshire, the £38m mixed-tenure development is within the New Forest District Council Local Plan. 49 of the 97 new houses and apartments are designated for affordable housing, with shared ownership, affordable rent, and social rent homes to be delivered by VIVID – the owner of Bargate Homes.

Mark White, managing director of Bargate Homes, said: “2025 will be full of milestones for Bargate. It’ll be 10 years since we moved into the office in Fair Oak, Eastleigh that we designed and constructed ourselves. Our 100th development project – Shepherd’s Green – will be a cause for celebration to kick-off our 20th year in business, while to coincide with the start of the new 2025/6 financial year, we will be unveiling a refreshed brand identity. Our 2,000th customer is also scheduled to move into their new home during May/June 2025.

“I am tremendously proud of the growth trajectory we’ve been on since 2021, given the relative turbulence of the national housing market. Bargate is very well financed, with an enviable landbank, a renowned product, and a brand that is synonymous with quality. Our success is down to the brilliant in-house team that upholds Bargate’s ethos, from land acquisition and planning, throughout the construction and customer journey, seamlessly to aftersales care. Our innate knowledge of the South Coast region we operate in also rewards us with market advantage.

“While continued growth is a key aim within our five-year plan, we feel Bargate’s sweet spot will be around 350 handcrafted homes per year. All sites in the planning process are being specified to the new Future Homes Standard, with eco features including air source heat pumps, solar PV and enhanced levels of insulation. We are also making a significant investment in habitat preservation and creation, to deliver biodiversity net gains far greater than the statutory metric.”

Bargate’s upcoming Shepherd’s Green development is surrounded by existing homes and pockets of green space, along with the village’s main road routes to the south and north. The scheme design address local housing needs, while also opening up the site, enabling wider access to nearby public routes, countryside, and new green spaces. Vehicular access to the site will be provided from Everton Road, supported by newly created pedestrian footpaths and a cycleway, which will connect the various green spaces on the development.

Annual turnover for the year ending March 2024 was £65m, with 213 homes completed. March 2023 turnover was £50m, when 140 homes were delivered. 30% of the homes being delivered during this financial year are for VIVID – Hampshire’s largest housing association – and the owner of Bargate Homes since 2019. 80% of the homes Bargate is currently constructing are family houses, with the remaining 20% being one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The firm’s 80 employees occupy an 8,500 sq ft office in Fair Oak, Eastleigh, built by Bargate in 2015 to EPC A standards. EV charging points were installed to the energy-saving campus in 2022, and the company’s journey to becoming net zero also includes a paperless policy across all departments.

Bargate Homes’ flagship development is the £128m Rivercross scheme at the mouth of the River Hamble in Warsash, where 352 coastal-inspired homes are being built, including the recently launched Heron’s Quarter phase. Another major scheme is Heritage Place, North Stoneham, where 322 houses are being delivered on a former deer park on the outskirts of Eastleigh, Southampton.