- Larkfleet Group

Larkfleet Group
Contents
This presentation covers:
Entrepreneurial spirit
Financial performance
Innovation and new approaches
Personal integrity and involvement
Local and national impacts
Strategic direction
Larkfleet Group is a privately-owned award-winning housebuilding and
development company based in Bourne, Lincolnshire. It is a sustainable
housebuilder, a major developer of sustainable energy projects, an investor
in sustainability focused Research and Development (R&D) projects and a
provider of energy-efficiency improvements for new and existing buildings.
Larkfleet Group
1
Entrepreneurial spirit
CEO Karl Hick’s ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ led to the establishment
of this unique group of businesses with a focus on sustainability
that sets it apart from competitors. Group companies are well
suited to work together on many projects and share their different
skill sets with others in the group to offer an unrivalled service to
clients and customers.
Karl’s early career was in chemistry and then accountancy.
He joined construction company McAlpine after responding
to an advert in The Sunday Times that was seeking a finance
director who was also an international athlete – Karl had the
accountancy qualifications and also national and international
athletic running experience.
Karl became involved in property when he took a post with
Wiggins GP PLC, a docklands property developer. When
Wiggins acquired Allison Homes in 1987 Karl was asked
to move to Spalding, Lincolnshire, to oversee the financial
integration of this private company into a PLC.
Wiggins, however, suffered serious financial problems at group
level and extracted substantial cash from Allison. This resulted in
receivership in June 1992.
Karl knew that Allison was a profitable company trading under a
successful and recognised name and agreed a deal to acquire
the business with funding provided by Midland Bank.
Over the next eight years the company achieved an excellent
balance sheet recovery, under very difficult circumstances.
The company grew from a zero turnover to £22 million in
2001 and net assets improved from a deficit of £2.3 million to
approximately £4 million at the time of sale. The business was
sold for £30 million in September 2001 representing the land
value attributable to the options the company had acquired.
Karl Hick, CEO of Larkfleet Group
2
Larkfleet Group
Entrepreneurial spirit
Karl’s agreement with the purchaser of Allison Homes prevented
him from working in the property sector for a while so he turned
his attention to the waste industry. He worked with the Allen
family to take forward new technology for which they had licence
agreements with the owners in the USA. This joint venture was
floated on the AIM market within two years – by which time Karl
was able to establish Larkfleet as a vehicle for a return to the
property industry.
Initially Larkfleet Ltd carried out a few sales and Karl acquired
some small sites, working with three other people and later
attracting a number of staff from Allison who preferred working
with Karl than for a PLC. The landowners at Elsea Park, Bourne,
for whom Karl achieved planning permission for 300 acres, were
invited to invest in the new group - which they did.
Karl continued to grow the private pension fund from his Allison
Homes days and acquired land for a ‘green’ business park
in Deeping which he has used to provide premises for group
companies Kestrel Timber Frame and Deepings Trading.
David Palmer – a regular presenter on daytime antique shows such
as ‘Flog It!’ and ‘Antiques Roadshow’ – cuts a ribbon to open the
manor house at The Croft, an age-exclusive development in Bourne,
Lincolnshire.
Utilising his waste skills, Karl has acquired strategic sites in
Tarbolton and Clay Cross to develop innovative waste recycling
activities.
He has also grown private interests in Scotland and property
investment companies in the UK and has developed a large
overseas property portfolio, primarily in developing countries.
Larkfleet Homes’ showhome complex at its ‘Leighfield Park’
development in Oakham was officially opened by
Helen Briggs, chief executive of Rutland County Council.
Allison Homes 1992 – 2001 (£m’s)
30
22m
20
10
Turnover
4m
0
Net Assets
-2.3m
-10
1992
2001
Larkfleet House, headquarters of Larkfleet Group.
Larkfleet Group
3
Property and housebuilding – which remain the core of the
Larkfleet Group business – are cyclical markets and Larkfleet has
inevitably been affected by general property market conditions.
Despite this the company has a solid track record of growth.
Larkfleet avoided the worst of the previous downturn in the
private housing market by focusing on building homes for
social landlords, successfully predicting that the then Labour
government would pour money into social housing.
With the change of government, and consequent reductions
in public expenditure, Larkfleet switched back into private
market housing. It has therefore been well positioned to benefit
from the recent upturn – in large part because throughout the
recession the company continued to invest in land for housing
development.
At the same time Larkfleet Group also invested heavily in large
scale photovoltaics and has now similarly benefited from a rising
market.
Financial performance
Construction Division (£m’s)
60
Revenue
40
20
Gross Profit
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Energy Division (£m’s)
180
120
Revenue
60
Gross Profit
0
-60
2010
Larkfleet Homes builds open market houses from starter-homes for
first-time buyers through to large family dwellings.
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Consolidated figures (£m’s)
Larkfleet Group figures excluding Kestrel Timber Frame,
300
Deepings
Trading and some smaller businesses.
200
100
Revenue
Gross Profit
0
2010
This social housing built by the Larkfleet Group for housing
association Longhurst & Havelok Homes in the village of Great
Gonerby was a finalist in the Best Social Housing Development
category of the LABC Building Excellence Awards.
4
Larkfleet Group
2011
2012
2013
2014 and 2015 figures are projections rather than actual results.
2014
2015
Larkfleet Group
5
Innovation and new approaches
Karl initially set up Larkfleet Group to be focused entirely on
housebuilding and that remains a core activity through flagship
company Larkfleet Homes and now newly established company
Larkfleet Exclusives.
However, recognising the opportunity and demand for
diversification in the housebuilding and construction industry, he
expanded the company both to develop more energy-efficient
and sustainable homes and to embrace renewable generation
technologies within house-building and in other sectors. The
group now comprises a number of companies covering all
these areas that share a common philosophy of ‘sustainable
development’, embracing sustainability in all its many aspects.
Other group companies include:
A L L ISON
Homes
LU X U RY H O M E S
Kestrel Timber Frame, which
provides timber frames from
sustainable forest sources
Lark Energy which is now
the UK’s leading developer
of photovoltaic (PV) ‘solar
farms’ to generate electricity
Larkfleet Group has active sites
and projects across Britain from
Cornwall to Scotland.
6
Larkfleet Group
Larkfleet Renewables
develops and sells
sustainable technologies
Builders’ merchants
Deepings Building &
Plumbing Supplies
Falcon Waste, which is
developing waste-to-energy
plants
Allison Homes Luxury
Dwellings, which builds
bespoke executive homes
Innovation and new approaches
Larkfleet Group’s investment in R&D projects in particular gives the company a competitive advantage both now and in the future. Some of
its research projects have the potential to revolutionise the construction industry.
In order to give sharper focus to the group’s R&D activities, and to co-ordinate these across group companies, Karl has recently established
a team headed by a newly-recruited senior manager with the title of ‘renewables investment director’. The team will be responsible for
expanding Larkfleet Group’s involvement with a variety of new energy technologies. Its tasks will include leading the group’s activities in
technology commercialisation, creating innovative business structures for new project development opportunities and advancing new
funding routes for multiple business units within Larkfleet Group.
Larkfleet PassiveHouse
Larkfleet Group, as part of a consortium of companies, developed
Startlink Lightweight Building Systems (SLBS) in a project which was
supported by funding from the government’s Technology Strategy
Board – an endorsement of the potential national significance of the
technology being developed.
Larkfleet has constructed a ‘test house’ using these materials and
methods – the ‘Larkfleet PassiveHouse’ – which is built to Passivhaus
and Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 standards. It shows how
lightweight pultruded glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) composite
beams and panels could revolutionise the way in which homes
are built. The house is designed to be ‘factory built’ using modular
components that can be mass produced off site and then easily
installed on site with minimal labour and site waste, allowing the building to be completed in much less time than a traditionally built house.
Looking to the future, the light weight of SLBS homes offers the potential for them to be built on foundations which would rise in response to
flooding – keeping the houses themselves entirely clear of the water. This may make it possible to develop housing where it is not currently
viable because of potential flooding. Larkfleet has again secured Technology Strategy Board funding for the next stage of this project –
building an experimental half-scale house on rising foundations in the garden of the existing Larkfleet PassiveHouse.
Green Deal Eco House
The Larkfleet PassiveHouse sits alongside another demonstration
project – the Green Deal Eco House which shows how buildings
can incorporate both Green Deal and ECO-funded energy saving
measures in housing and commercial buildings.
The latest addition to the Green Deal Eco House is a biomass
boiler. This will be a demonstration unit for another new business
development as group company Larkfleet Renewables offers
householders the opportunity to have such boilers fitted effectively
free of charge using finance from the government’s Renewable Heat
Initiative.
This is another example of Karl leading Larkfleet to take advantage
not just of new markets but new opportunities opened up by this type
of government scheme.
Adjacent to these two demonstration homes Larkfleet has recently installed an experimental solar power system.
Solar Steam
The ‘solar steam’ system consists of panels which focus the sun’s
rays onto metal tubes filled with water. This heat can be harnessed
to heat water or to produce steam which can be used to drive a
generator to produce electricity. The panels are mounted on a rig
which rotates to track the movement of the sun through the sky
during the day.
The installation alongside Larkfleet House will produce only a small
amount of steam for experimental purposes. One of the objectives
is to test the effectiveness of the equipment in British weather
conditions – it should be possible to produce some power even on
cold and cloudy days. If the equipment proves to be successful,
however, the major market is likely to be in warmer countries where
there is sunshine for long periods of the year. Larkfleet has already
had interest from Pakistan and Bangladesh and is talking to UKTI about support for exporting to these countries and others.
Even in the UK, however, it is possible to generate electric power from sunlight and Larkfleet
has invested heavily in photovoltaic (PV) system development.
Larkfleet Group
7
Innovation and new approaches
Photo voltaics
Karl led Larkfleet to become an early entrant into the solar
photo-voltaic (PV) market, identifying opportunities to secure
funding through a number of government schemes which
encourage renewable power generation. Several group
companies have tailored PV offerings to different market sectors,
from retro-fit roof-top domestic installations sold by Eco Building
Products to large scale solar farms developed by Lark Energy.
The businesses have reacted swiftly to the many changes in
government policy and funding that have been introduced over
the past few years.
Waste to Energy
The company is also investing in waste-to-energy plants with
a major development proposed at Clay Cross in Derbyshire.
The plant will potentially take wood waste from demolition and
construction sites (waste that would otherwise go to landfill) to
generate heat and electricity.
A similar project is being developed at Tarbolton.
Marketing Innovation
Larkfleet strives to be innovative not just in technology, however,
but also in product development and marketing.
Its approach to development of age-exclusive retirement
communities has won the company a number of accolades
including a HAPPI (Housing our Aging Population Panel for
Innovation) Award at the national Housing Design Awards and
being named best over 50s housing developer in the world at
the Global Over 50s Housing Services Awards. The company’s
commitment is driven by Karl’s own experience of the difficulty
his parents had in finding suitable housing for their final years.
An artist’s impression of the proposed Clay Cross Energy
Recovery Facility which will produce heat and electrical power by
‘gasification’ of waste wood from construction and demolition sites.
Throughout the recession Larkfleet continued to invest in
marketing communication with programmes utilising not only
traditional advertising but also new social media channels,
participation in local business exhibitions and a mobile exhibition
unit which visits local shows, attractions and shopping centres.
Larkfleet is currently negotiating
deals both with former pop star
Kiki Dee (who will help to promote
its age-exclusive developments
to people of her generation and
older) and with Olympic medallist
Louis Smith who will help Larkfleet
reach a younger generation of
house buyers.
The Larkfleet Homeowners
Club seeks to build long-term
relationships with buyers such that, when changing family
circumstances mean they need to consider moving home, they
think first of talking to Larkfleet.
Long before the government launched schemes to help
people move onto or up the property ladder, Larkfleet had its
own innovative schemes to do similar things. It still maintains
and develops a number of these to reach people that the
government is not aiming to assist.
Good marketing, coupled with good sales staff and excellent
customer care, is enabling Larkfleet to outsell its competitors by
a ratio of two to one on directly competing sites.
8
Larkfleet Group
Solar PV is fitted as standard on most Larkfleet homes.
Larkfleet Group
9
Personal integrity & involvement
Karl has always had a ‘hands on’ management style and in the
early days of building the company was involved in every aspect
of the business. As the company has grown, he has developed
an excellent management team that is able to drive the business
forward.
As part of Larkfleet’s commitment to customer care, every
Larkfleet homeowner is visited by a director of the company
shortly after moving in to ensure that they are happy with their
purchase. Karl personally undertakes as many of these visits as
he can.
Larkfleet is heavily involved in the local community and in
regional and national organisations that have an impact on the
business.
Karl has been heavily involved in the recently-successful bid to
establish a University Technical College in Peterborough. He
meets regularly with local councillors, council officers and MPs
to talk about local planning issues and matters of wider national
concern – particularly, recently, the need for planning policy to
reflect the requirements of an aging population.
Wherever possible Larkfleet employs local people, places
contracts with local suppliers and supports local schools and
charities. It also supports local business awards to celebrate
the achievements of local companies. From donations to
local charities and equipment supply for local schools, to
the investment in the local economy with the training and
employment it gives to local students and suppliers, Larkfleet is
committed to giving back to the area in which it is based.
Larkfleet provided funds to help street parties on its developments
go with a swing during the Jubilee celebrations.
Sustainability is at the forefront of Larkfleet’s work. Not just in
the projects it delivers for customers but also its own business
practices. Larkfleet builds using sustainable timber frames,
minimises waste and the use of materials during construction
and protects wildlife around its sites. It also has a number of
electric cars that employees are encouraged to use in order to
minimise carbon emissions.
This investment in corporate responsibility and sustainability is
not something Larkfleet does merely to become more profitable
– although every such investment has a sound business
case. These commitments are also important to Larkfleet as a
business that cares about the local community and the people
within it.
This reputation undoubtedly promotes a sense of integrity about
Larkfleet’s business and its work that, in turn, has positive
effects on its competitive advantage and profitability.
We helped volunteers creating a wildlife area in the village of Eye by
providing equipment - including an excavator and operator to help
with the heavy digging.
All Larkfleet staff have an opportunity to benefit from this through
a ‘phantom share scheme’ which gives them a real stake in the
success of the business.
When Karl came to sell Allison Homes, he had two competing
offers. The purchaser offering the higher price was interested
only in the land bank that had built up and would have closed
the company. Karl opted for a lower offer that came with a
commitment to keep the company trading, protecting the jobs
of the people who had helped to build the business to the point
where he could sell it.
10
Larkfleet Group
Larkfleet
in the Community
Personal integrity & involvement
Staff retention levels both at Allison during Karl’s management
and subsequently at Larkfleet are above the average for the
industry.
Karl recently ran in the London Marathon to raise money for The
Willow Foundation, one of Larkfleet’s corporate charities.
Larkfleet is also heavily involved in supporting the NSPCC,
raising money which is spent within local communities
supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable youngsters. At a
recent event, Larkfleet helped raise over £20,000 for the charity.
Larkfleet Group company Eco Building Products has supplied 16
electric vehicle (EV) charging points for a variety of locations in
three counties in the Midlands and East of England, including this
one in Oakham - more than any other company.
Strictly Come Dancing stars Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe perform at an
NSPCC event which was supported by Larkfleet
Karl and his son Charlie ran in the 2014 Virgin Money London
Marathon, together raising more than £4,500 for The Willow
Foundation.
Larkfleet Homes has helped Bourne Abbey Church of England
Primary Academy to raise money for an impoverished community in
Nyansakia, Kenya.
A team from Larkfleet cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats to
raise money for The Willow Foundation.
Larkfleet Group
11
Local and national impacts
Larkfleet Group company Lark Energy is one of the UK’s largest
developers of PV farms and was the company behind the largest
such project in the UK. It has developed 235 MWp and installed
over 140 MWp of PV across the UK in just three years since being
established in June 2011.
Lark Energy is one of several group companies that have
won awards for business and environmental achievements.
Karl personally was named as the Peterborough Telegraph
Business Person of the Year 2013 and in 2010 was named
as an ‘international green hero’ by the Green Organisation,
an independent environment group dedicated to recognising,
rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around
the world.
Larkfleet’s environmental and financial success has allowed it to
obtain accreditation to offer Green Deal loans from the Green
Investment Bank.
Lark Energy built the UK’s largest solar farm at Wymeswold,
Leicestershire, on the site of a former World War II airfield.
Even through the recent hard economic times, Larkfleet
has continued to support its annual intake of young local
apprentices.
Karl was named as
the Peterborough
Telegraph’s
Business Person of
the Year for 2014.
Lark Energy’s
development at
Wymeswold won
the inaugural Solar
Power Portal award
for Most Successful
Large-scale Ground
Mount Solar Site.
Our Larkfleet
PassiveHouse
project won a
silver award in the
‘energy reduction’
sector of the
prestigious national
Green Apple
Awards.
12
Larkfleet Group
Larkfleet was part of a consortium that developed Startlink
Lightweight Building Systems with support from the government’s
Technology Strategy Board.
Local and national impacts
This year, the company has also expanded its training for
young people into a new area by creating three roles within the
Larkfleet Group that are providing local graduates with invaluable
experience. The three graduates are working with directors of
group companies in order to gain knowledge and insight into
how a successful business operates.
By engaging with graduate and apprentices, not only is
Larkfleet supporting the local economy by nurturing local talent
but it is also benefiting from the innovation and enthusiasm
demonstrated by these young people.
Larkfleet Group’s success in turn benefits the region in which it is
based because it is committed to investing in local communities
and the people within those communities.
With its success, Larkfleet is able to support local economies
with employment opportunities, support local ecosystems with
its sustainable construction and wildlife protection practices
and support the local environment with its low carbon building
methods.
It is also, of course, providing local people with quality energyefficient housing and renewable energy generation projects.
Larkfleet’s R&D projects are an educational resource used by
local schools and building professionals.
The company’s investment in the future of the construction
industry is significant for a medium-sized company and means
that it can remain at the forefront of technological advances.
Larkfleet Group’s R&D projects currently under way have the
potential to revolutionise the construction industry, especially in
regards to housing construction in flood risk areas. Its leadership
in this field is something that has attracted national and
international interest and government financial backing.
Larkfleet’s solar steam project has also received international
attention and, although it is in the very early stages of proving
the technology, Larkfleet has already hosted visits from foreign
delegations interested in using the system overseas. The system
has enormous potential to help tackle global warming and
generate ‘carbon-free’ electricity.
A particular career milestone for Karl was recently taking part in
the exclusive Leadership Programme run by the Confederation
of British Industry (CBI). This
gave him the opportunity to
lobby senior civil servants and
politicians not just in Westminster
but also Brussels and
Washington.
Larkfleet is providing training and career development for young
graduates within the Larkfleet Group.
Now, of course, Karl has added
another accolade of which
is equally proud - Midlands
regional winner of the ‘master
entrepreneur’ category in the
Ernst and Young Entrepreneur
Awards.
Even in the recession Larkfleet continued to invest in the recruitment
of apprentices.
Larkfleet Group
13
Strategic direction
Under Karl’s leadership, the company has shown how high
environmental and quality standards can be introduced practically
and economically into a highly competitive housing market.
Karl’s understanding of the industry meant that he foresaw
problems in the open housing market and put the forces of
the company into building social housing with a particular
‘environmental focus’ that differentiated Larkfleet from
competitors. When expenditure on social housing was hit by
public spending cuts he then redirected the business back into
open market housing, using its highly established environmental
standards to differentiate it from other housebuilders.
Throughout the recession Larkfleet continued to invest in site
acquisition using innovative option and purchase schemes to
minimise cash outlay. Now the housing market is growing again
Larkfleet is in a position to bring new housing developments
swiftly to market. It has a number of major sites at various
stages of planning and development.
In more than 25 years of developing housing Karl has always
acquired site options by private negotiations during recessions,
avoiding competition with major developers and allowing
Larkfleet to bring sites forward for development at affordable
prices during subsequent market upturns.
The establishment this year of yet another Larkfleet Group
company, Larkfleet Exclusives, is further testament to the drive
and pragmatism of Larkfleet Group – recognising shifts in
demand in the housing market.
Larkfleet is aiming to deliver sustainable development for
generations to come.
Dunstone Gardens
Larkfleet is also responding to – and leading – other trends in the
housing market. In particular, some years ago Larkfleet identified
a need for age-exclusive ‘retirement communities’ that are not
traditional homes for old people but meet the real needs of
people in the later years of their life. Larkfleet has built (and won
awards for) such developments and has more in the pipeline.
The company was delighted to see the Demos ‘think tank’
urge government to plan more positively for such communities.
Larkfleet itself produced a summary of the Demos report and
circulated it to politicians and council officers throughout its area
of operation.
On all large-scale developments Larkfleet is integrating such
developments as part of a wider community – alongside more
specialist care facilities for people with real health and welfare
needs which it also strongly believes should be provided within
a community setting and not ‘shut away’ somewhere. Larkfleet’s
development plans thus encompass everyone from first-time
buyers and young families through to the retired and the frail
elderly.
Above and below: The newest company in the Larkfleet Group –
Allison Homes Luxury Dwellings – is designing and building bespoke
luxury homes for discerning buyers.
Thornhaugh - Seven Summers View-1.jpg
Dunstone Gardens
1224 0714 LMRTDesign.com
At the same time as adapting its strategy in the housebuilding
sector to meet changing market conditions Larkfleet has also
strategically developed other businesses – from timber frame
housing to large scale PV solar farms. Each new business
development, however, has been built on a solid foundation
of bringing benefit to the group as a whole as well as being a
worthwhile venture in its own right.
Thornhaugh - Seven Summers View-2.jpg
14
Larkfleet Group
Larkfleet Group, Larkfleet House, Falcon Way, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 0FF
Tel: 01778 391550 www.larkfleetgroup.co.uk