Regional housebuilder Beal Homes has revealed plans for a showpiece new head office featuring industry-leading customer experience facilities.
The East Yorkshire-based company plans to move just 100 yards from its existing home to a new £4.5m building.
A planning application has been submitted to East Riding of Yorkshire Council for the 19,000 sq ft, two-storey building, which will take Beal’s uniquely-personal customer service to a new level.
The planned investment at Bridgehead business park close to the Humber Bridge comes just a few years after multi award-winning Beal relocated to then new-built offices at the site.
Since then, the company’s reputation for quality and customer service have driven growth in house sales from just over 100 completions a year to around 300, with turnover trebling in that time.
Now, Beal has once more outgrown its home and plans to invest in the new head office which is more than twice the size of its existing building.
Almost half of the floorspace will be devoted to an expanded Design Lounge and areas dedicated to customer service, including to host launch events for new developments. With its own entrance, this will be a seven-day sales outlet, open during the day and evening to suit customers’ busy lifestyles.
The 1.1-acre site will also feature a show garden, reflecting the further development of a recently-launched Beal service helping buyers to make the most of their outdoor space with advice from a landscape design expert.
The housebuilder operates in Hull, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and is renowned for the “Beal Experience” under which every buyer works with the company’s expert designers to ensure their new home suits their lifestyle and tastes perfectly, from changing room layouts to selecting fixtures, fittings and finishes.
Chief Executive Richard Beal said: “This building will be both the headquarters of our business and a highly-visible shop window and showroom for the quality of our homes and the outstanding customer experience we’re known for.
“The facilities will enable us to enhance even further the customer journey, including the experience our buyers enjoy as they work with our expert designers to customise their new home.
“It will also offer a superb working environment for our excellent team. Post-Covid, people will care even more about the quality of their workplace and that will be a key issue in retaining and recruiting talented staff.”
Pending planning approval, construction is expected to begin early next year with the new head office due to open in the first quarter of 2022.
Mr Beal added: “We have been considering the need for a bigger Design Lounge to support our continuing growth for some time, but the events of recent months have accelerated our thinking.
“It’s clear to us the process of buying a new home is continuing to change. Since March all visits to our marketing suites and show homes, as well as our development launches, have been by appointment-only. Our customers have completely embraced this, as well as welcoming the extensive Covid-secure safety measures we have put in place.
“This tells us homebuyers are receptive to pre-booked appointments in first-class surroundings where they can truly experience the quality of our homes and the exceptional range of fixtures, fittings and finishes we offer as part of our design service.
“The pandemic has also changed people’s thinking about what they want from their home and private outdoor space, especially the desire for increased flexibility, including to provide for working from home.
“Our new head office will have the space and purpose-designed facilities to showcase fully the opportunity we offer to buyers to make their new home exactly as they want it to be, including altering internal layouts. It will also accommodate a new, greater range of customer options, such as furniture and soft furnishings.”
Beal is working with commercial property business Wykeland Group, owner and developer of Bridgehead, on the new head office project.
Wykeland Managing Director Dominic Gibbons said: “These plans will bring another landmark building to Bridgehead, in keeping with the high quality of design seen across the business park.
“Beal was the first company to make its home at Bridgehead and that move has been instrumental in the growth of the business. Now Beal plans to invest again, to literally build on that success.”
