Taywood director Peter Phipps will head the merged housing arm, which will be split into four regions. He said: "But we don't know how many job losses there will be yet." Taywood last month denied that it intended to sell Bryant's construction arm or its own.
Taywood's pre-tax profit rocketed 64% to £201.5m for the year ending 31 December 2000. This figure includes £47.9m from the sale of the group's Greenham Trading business last year.