O’Rourke and Wates return to Rich List as housebuilder remains construction’s wealthiest man

The annual ranking of the UK’s wealthiest 350 people sees Bloor Homes founder John Bloor remain construction’s richest man with re-entries on this year’s list including James Wates and family as well as Ray O’Rourke.

A former plasterer, Bloor, who has owned Triumph motorcycles since 1983, has an estimated fortune of £3.488bn, up £1.409bn moving him up to 54^th on the list from 85^th last year.

But he is some way behind Sir Anthony Bamford, who is in charge of the JCB construction equipment business, who has an estimated fortune of £5.9bn, up £1.58bn which moves him up 10 places to number 32 on the list.

Others re-entering the Sunday Times Rich List are the Murphy family, which owns the north London-based civils and building business J Murphy founded by the late John Murphy in 1951, with an estimated fortune of £931m, reflecting an improved set of numbers in 2021 while the Kirkland family behind Bowmer & Kirkland saw its estimated fortune tick up £8m to £811m.

Chris Oglesby and family, who own the Manchester-based developer Bruntwood, which is working on ID Manchester, a city centre innovation district it is developing alongside Stanhope, saw their fortune jump £72m to £788m while Redrow founder Steve Morgan, who left the business in 2019, again makes the list – but his fortune slipped £4m to £785m.

Also on the list is Charles Gallagher who owns a majority stake in private housebuilder Abbey whose fortune is put at £776m, up £107m. And John McCarthy, who helped co-found McCarthy & Stone before setting up Churchill Retirement Living, and sons Clinton and Spencer are estimated to be worth £676m, up £14m.

Other re-entries include David Wilson, the man behind housebuilder Wilson Bowden, which was bought by Barratt in 2007, with a fortune of £610m while Shanly Homes founder Michael Shanly is worth £502m.

Another re-entry is James Wates, who recently stepped down as chairman of the business, and family with a fortune of £415m while Laing O’Rourke founder and group chief executive Ray O’Rourke and family is listed at the very bottom of the top 350 with a fortune of £350m. Along with brother Des, O’Rourke set up his concrete business in the late 1970s before striking the transformational deal which saw him pay £1 for Laing in 2001.

The UK’s richest men are brothers Siri and Gopi Hinduja, who have made their £35bn fortune from industry and finance. The figure is the biggest in the Rich List’s 35 years of running.

The pair are behind the transformation of the Old War Office in Whitehall into a 120-bed Raffles hotel which includes a penthouse expected to fetch £100m.