Story Homes and Story Contracting is celebrating their 35th anniversary of delivering high quality homes and civil engineering solutions across the UK.

Story Construction was founded by local businessman Fred Story in 1987, after the chairman gained industry experience by buying several small properties, renovating them during his evenings and weekends then selling them on. The original Story Construction team consisted of just Fred and three colleagues working on a variety of projects in and around Carlisle, with their first contract win being a BP Filling Station in Barrow for £513.

In 2012 the Story Construction group de-merged and Story Homes and Story Contracting became two separate businesses – with Homes focussing on delivering high quality housing developments across the North and Contracting earning its national reputation for providing rail, plant and construction solutions.

Fred Story, founder and Chairman of Story Homes and Story Contracting said: "Over the 35 years we have built two fantastic companies through the hard work, determination and passion of our people. We're seen as a trusted partner to clients, customers and landowners, and this has been key in helping us create successful and sustainable businesses for many years to come.

"From just a handful of people in the early days, to almost 1,300 staff employed at Homes and Contracting today, I am incredibly proud of the businesses we have created and everyone who has played a part in this."

Story's first development was just four houses in the Cumbrian village of Thurstonfield and now three decades later, the housebuilder is set to deliver over 900 new homes in 2022/23.

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To date, Story Homes has delivered almost 10,000 homes spanning the North of England as well as South-West Scotland. The company employs almost 400 staff across multiple sites and three regional offices in Carlisle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Chorley.

Earlier this year Story Homes was once again awarded 5-star status for customer satisfaction by the National House Building Council (NHBC) and Home Builders Federation (HBF), with more than nine in 10 customers recommending the builder to a friend.

In addition, the housebuilder achieved a Gold rating for customer service from 'In-house' – the customer satisfaction research body for the residential property sector – after 97 per cent of customers said they would recommend Story Homes, as well as a further 'Outstanding' award.

Colin Wood, CEO of Story Homes said: "Fred started our business on the foundations of quality, passion and teamwork and these remain our values today. The business will continue to grow while remaining focused on the quality and customer service which has built our reputation."

Since 1987 Story has delivered over 6,500 projects for a wide range of public and private sector clients across the whole of the UK, including infrastructure, manufacturing, housing, highways and energy. Story now has nine regional offices covering the whole of Scotland and England and recently welcomed their 900th employee to Team Story.

Story Contracting is very proud to be recognised by a number of industry awards and accreditations including Network Rail's Route to Gold scheme, Institute of Civil Engineers – 'Company of the Year' and the RoSPA 'Gold Award' for health and safety achievements.

In addition to delivering award-winning projects, the company was also praised for its commitment to sustainably grow, retain and attract a diverse, multi-talented workforce within the industry, receiving the 'Investing in People' accolade at the Rail Partnership Awards. Story has also won awards for being a 'Great Place to Work', 'Investing in Communities' and for its response to businesses, the supply chain and community needs throughout COVID-19.

Jason Butterworth, CEO of Story Contracting said: "Story Contracting has gone from strength to strength since the business was founded 35 years ago, thanks to continuous investment from Fred and support from our clients, communities and people. Our company motto is 'Do it Right' and this helps us attract a high level of repeat work from a wide range of clients because they trust us to deliver high quality projects safely, on time and to budget. We continue to invest in all of our people at Story, and we have a strong culture where our values of 'grounded', 'hardworking' and 'trusted' ensure this is protected. I am very proud to be part of this exciting journey with Story Contracting."