Brexit: Britain's largest house builder considers relocating block building operations from Germany to UK

Barratt reviewing contingency plan to avoid being left with materials shortfall

A Barratt Homes housing development near Preston (Phil Noble/Reuters)

Britain’s largest house builder is considering relocating its construction block manufacturing operations from Germany to the UK to mitigate the possible impact of Brexit.

Barratt Developments said that 90 per cent of its large format blocks used in residential projects are sourced from the UK but the remainder are imported from abroad – potentially leaving it vulnerable to a shortfall in materials post-Brexit.

As negotiations between Britain and the EU turn towards safeguarding the free movement of goods until 2020, Barratt is one of many UK businesses working to develop contingency plans to ensure any knock-on effects from the UK’s withdrawal from Europe are minimal.

“We’re currently having a discussion with the supplier about whether production can come from the UK rather than directly from Germany,” chief executive officer David Thomas said.

The news comes on the same day the company posted a healthy 7 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the second half of 2017 compared to the same period last year, to £342.7m. Revenues rose by 10 per cent to £1.9bn.

The company’s average selling price for its properties rose 7 per cent to £281,000 over the six-month period.

Barratt said that it completed 3,342 new affordable homes in 2017 as a whole and credited its performance to the “positive market backdrop” and “good customer demand”.

Additional reporting by newswires