Wates Group


The Wates Group is one of the largest family owned construction, property services and development companies in the United Kingdom.

History

Established by Edward Wates in 1897, the company expanded into speculative housebuilding and general contracting in the 1920s and 1930s. During World War II, it was involved in building the Mulberry harbours. In March 2015, it was reported that Wates would take over most of the Shepherd Group's construction operations.
Two months later, it was confirmed that Wates would take over Shepherd Engineering Services, Shepherd Facilities Management and various contracts held by its loss making Shepherd Construction arm, with some 1,200 staff transferring to Wates in September 2015.
The Wates deal was concluded on 1 October 2015, being valued at £9.8m, with Shepherd booking a £2.8m profit after taking account of costs for the sale. Wates announced three hundred redundancies in May 2020, around 8% of its workforce, as the group managed fallout from the Covid19 Pandemic. In July 2020, it announced restructuring changes intended to support a focus on core public sector and housing work.

Operations

The group operates in three core areas: Construction, Property Services and Residential Developments. There is also Wates Giving, a charitable foundation which has given away circa £10 million since 2008. In London, Wates Group is building residential properties on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Wates runs Building Futures, an education programme for the long term unemployed. It is accredited by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance. Wates has been a major donor to the UK Conservative Party. From 2007 to 2017, Wates Group Services Ltd gave £430,000 to the party, including a £50,000 donation in February 2017.

Major projects

Major projects include:
It won the Construction News "Contractor of the Year" Award in July 2017, and the magazine Building "Major Contractor of the Year" Award in 2009, 2010 and 2016, with CEO Andrew Davies named CEO's CEO of the Year in 2016.