Construction Wave

Following Angela Rayner’s resignation last week over reports of underpaid stamp duty, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer swiftly reshuffled his cabinet, placing Reed in the pivotal role.

Industry leaders are hopeful that Reed, who has previously served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will inject the urgency needed to meet the government’s ambitious target of delivering 1.5 million new homes by 2030.

In 1897, Edward Wates set up the first Wates Company. Three years later, Edward, aged just 27, and his brother Arthur became the proprietors of a furniture shop down Mitcham Lane in Streatham, South London.

From humble beginnings, the Ipswich-born son of a carpenter and joiner, Edward and family would often move several times throughout the course of his father William’s career, before finally settling Mitcham Lane.