Galliford Try has signed a deal with Shepherd Group to buy their Yorkshire housing assets.

As reported recently, the deal will give Linden Homes’ a springboard to meet its targeted expansion by 2018.

The sell-off comprises six current sites and five sites in planning, totalling a landbank of 515 plots. It is not known what will happen to the 60 staff at Shepherd Homes.

It is the first disposal by Shepherd Group after the management reviewed its options for its seven main operating businesses.

Latest 2014 accounts for the privately-owned group showed it struggled to perform with profit falling 40% to £11m from a turnover of £686m.

Within this there were strong performances by Portakabin, Shepherd Engineering Services, Homes and FM, but Shepherd Construction and two businesses within Shepherd Group Engineering performed badly.

Earlier this year Wates looked at buying the M&E business and the loss-making building business but decided not to move ahead with an offer.

Shepherd Homes, also part of the built environment division, trebled pre-tax profits to £3.5m after nearly doubling completions to 234 homes in 2014 and lifting turnover to £47m.

But the house builder’s land and stock has shrunk from a value of £74m in 2009 to just £27m in 2014, even though the house building industry has seen a strong recovery during the last three years.

Greg Fitzgerald, Executive Chairman at Galliford Try, revealed yesterday’s deal in an upbeat trading statement this morning.

He said that both Linden Homes and Galliford Try’s Partnerships arm were actively pursuing good land opportunities.

The division now boasts a record landbank of 15,000 plots.  Linden Homes has all plots secured for 2016 together with 75% of plots secured for 2017.