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PRIVACY
Commercial Property

Revenues fall as housebuilder Persimmon puts quality before quantity

Chief executive Dave Jenkinson said "quality and service improvement initiatives" would be the company's priority

Persimmon flags(Image: PA)

Housebuilder Persimmon saw the number of homes it completed fall by 4% in the last year, as the company attempts to improve the quality of its building work following a scathing report into its work practices.

Bosses were told that they were focusing too much on building as many houses as possible - but failing to ensure the homes were habitable for the long term.

The fall means full-year revenues hit £3.65bn in the 12 months to December 31, down 2.4% compared with a year earlier. The average selling price was just £137 more than a year ago, at £215,700, the company added.

Dave Jenkinson, chief executive, said: "Delivering the maximum benefit to our customers from our quality and service improvement initiatives will continue to be my top priority for 2020.

"I am pleased with the progress we have made in 2019 and there is more to do.

"Action taken to maintain our increased levels of work in progress investment, the increase in quality assurance and customer service resources, and our plans for the implementation of the recommendations of the recent Independent Review, will all add to our momentum."

Published in December and led by Stephanie Barwise QC, the report found Persimmon did not properly install fire barriers in homes.

The company was criticised for a series of failures and accused of focusing on achieving a five-star rating from the Home Builders Federation (HBF), rather than building high-quality and safe homes.