Last year SY Homes marked its tenth anniversary and the company has even more reasons to celebrate in 2025, after it won the People & Culture Award at the prestigious Constructing Excellence West Midlands Awards.
Started by father and son team, Rhys and Richard Thomas, and close friend Wayne Sidell; SY Homes (so called because it operates predominately in the SY postcode area covering Shrewsbury in Shropshire) has developed a leading reputation in the region thanks to its emphasis on high standards.
“Our signature style has been based on utilising the best possible materials in conjunction with exceptional workmanship to deliver homes we’d want to live in ourselves,” explains Suzanne Johnson, Head of Marketing. “To achieve this, we’ve built a core group of sub-contractors that share our same exacting standards that we return to time and time again. We only have seven full-time members of staff, so the continuity we enjoy with our team of sub-contractors is essential. They’re in-tune with our quality-focused ethos because we work with them so regularly, to the extent that it’s like they’re a permanent part of SY Homes anyway. This has created a fantastic team spirit and there’s always a really nice atmosphere onsite.”
This camaraderie and combination of small family business mentality based on traditional values and extensive sub-contractor base was a key factor behind SY Homes’ People & Culture Award. It also allows it to tackle ever larger and increasingly taxing developments that many other companies shy away from. One such project is Old Coleham Court, an extensive residential development that is the company’s biggest project to date.
“Our approach focuses on brownfield sites, which many developers avoid completely because they can be so complicated,” adds Suzanne. “Old Coleham Court is a great example, as it’s in quite an awkward location, with a railway line on one side and a riverbank on the other. This brought a number of challenges, especially as Shrewsbury had suffered some severe flooding prior to the commencement of construction. Thankfully, we’ve got the resources and the access to experts in the likes of engineering, BIM and environmental, that we’re able to contend with any issues. Even though we have a vast range of expertise to hand, we have remained small and nimble enough to adapt quickly to challenges when necessary. We’re never scared to innovate and try something new.”
The success of the Old Coleham Court project has seen SY Homes’ reputation increase further, with its latest award win being an added bonus to the commercial success it is enjoying.
“We’d never really got involved in any award schemes before we first applied to the Constructing Excellence Awards back in 2022, for our previous development, Albury Place,” says Suzanne. “We ended up winning three awards, including Residential Project of the Year, which gave us as a company and all our staff a tremendous confidence boost, as it showed that we were doing something right. It really changed the way we looked at ourselves within the marketplace. It has allowed us to tell people that we’re an award-winning developer, which always helps from a marketing perspective, especially as Constructing Excellence are an accredited organisation that is widely-respected within the industry.”
With potentially more awards to come, SY Homes is refusing to get complacent and is already looking at moving to the next development: Lord Hill Gardens in SY2. Plans and pricing will be released in Summer 2025 as ground works start.
“We’re on the cusp of becoming even bigger with the goal of being able to run multiple projects at the same time. Our next step, therefore, is to take our existing model and expand upon it by increasing our team. We’re at a really exciting point in our story.”
SY Homes is moving to new offices in 2025 and will be expanding its team with new roles in administration, site management and quantity surveying. (Find out more at its website: www.syhomes.co.uk).
“We’ve identified some interesting residential projects in and around Shrewsbury, particularly in terms of one and two-bedroom town centre apartments, which has become something of a niche for us,” says Tom Savage, Project Lead and Partner. “We’ve therefore got three exciting residential projects in the pipeline that we’ll be taking on simultaneously, while we also carry out some work for Wales and West Housing Association, for which we develop high specification supported living contracts.”
By sticking its head above the parapet, SY Homes has not only been able to secure work that others have been too reluctant to take on, but its unrelenting focus on quality has also ensured that repeat business and award recognition has followed. By sticking to this formula, its bravery and integrity is sure to see it continue the strong progression it has enjoyed over the past ten years. What’s more, further award recognition cannot be ruled out either.