More investment for Fairgrove Homes

19th April 2004

East Midlands property developer Fairgrove Homes has welcomed businessman Chris Hickling as an investor and shareholder in the company. Chris, who joins the company with more than twenty years’ experience in the housing market, brings the investment and knowledge required to help Fairgrove Homes enter a new level of business growth.

Having entered the property market straight from school, Chris went on to work for a number of residential estate agencies in the Mansfield and Nottingham areas, before establishing Direct Valuations, a property valuations company. This company – of which he remains a major shareholder – was the first to provide a valuation service for a subsidiary of First Direct bank. Based in Beeston and Derby, it now employs 100 staff and carries out approximately 150,000 valuations per year nationwide. As the company has developed, Chris has been able to take more of a back-seat role and pursue other interests. Professionally, his main interests continue to be in the property development and investment businesses. Away from the boardroom, he enjoys motor racing, holidays, sailing, shooting and eating out.

“I decided that I’d like to be an investor and shareholder in Fairgrove Homes because I liked what I saw,” says Chris. “I was attracted to the professionalism of the business. I love housing, and now that Direct Valuations is well established, I have less of a day-to-day role with the company. This has freed me up to pursue other business interests”

Chris’s involvement in Fairgrove Homes will complement the expertise of the company’s other shareholders. “Coming from a commercial background, I know what consumers and estate agents are looking for in a home. I hope this will add to Fairgrove Homes’ considerable knowledge and professionalism regarding house building.”

About Fairgrove Homes
Fairgrove Homes is a locally owned business that prides itself on building individual homes of character. The company combines quality with small developments in desirable locations to meet customers’ needs. Fairgrove Homes’ current development sites include:

• Dobson’s Mill in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire
• Olders Valley, Woodville, and Old School Woods, Shipley Park, Derbyshire
• The Old Bull Farm, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire.

Further new developments are situated at The Bruntings, Eakring Road, Mansfield, and Orton Fields, Bramcote, Nottinghamshire, as well as Loscoe, Derbyshire.

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