Title: Staverton Builders Ltd
Level: Series
Ref No: C/ST
Extent: 39 boxes; 2 volumes
Dates: 1930-1980

History: Staverton Builders Ltd was founded in 1930 from the Works Department of Dartington Hall Ltd and was founded as an independent company originally contracted to undertake construction on the Dartington Hall estate and to accept outside contracts in order to give the company permanence. A subsidiary company, Devon Electric and General Services Ltd was formed in 1931 to manage electrical work. Staverton also operated a joinery producing 'Dartside Furniture' and other fittings.

Further subsidiary companies were formed to manage speculative building schemes of which the best known was the housing estate at Churston near Paignton. Other housing developments built in the 1930s by Staverton included those at Dittisham Court; St James Priory Estate, Exeter; Cliff Park, Paignton; and Carlyon Bay, St Austell, Cornwall. To a large extent Staverton pioneered modernist architecture in the southwest of England, but sometimes the houses were too radical for their intended middle class audience.

Staverton Builders grew to be one of the major contractors in the southwest of England. Some of the largest projects for which Staverton was the primary contractor include the Ocean Terminal at Southampton which was completed in 1950, the Hams Hall B Power Station completed in the late 1950s, and Devon County Hall, Exeter. After World War II Staverton built hundreds of houses as well as civic centres and department stores in Plymouth and Paignton, and buildings for the universities of Exeter and Cardiff. At its height, Staverton employed over a 1000 people, most based at the Staverton Bridge Mill headquarters.

For most of its history, Staverton was a separate company outside of the umbrella of Dartington commercial activity. For the first six years, Leonard Elmhirst served as company chairman. In 1936, a financial crisis led to a reorganisation and recapitalisation of Staverton, with most shares held by Bascor or New Bascor Ltd, both companies benefiting the Dartington Hall Trust by debenture. New Bascor Ltd was dissolved voluntarily in 1957 and Staverton became directly owned by Dartington Hall Trust.

The company changed its name in 1959 to Staverton Contractors Ltd and by the 1970s it had become known as the Staverton Group Ltd. Staverton was sold to the Bristol-based J T Group in 1976. However, Dartington Hall Trust retained its ownership of the separate Staverton Joinery works and of Dartington Plant Ltd.

Records consist of a small amount of executive correspondence, a complete set of reports of the managing director; and Board of Directors records including meeting minute books dating from 1930 through to July 1948. There are copies of loose minutes dated to 1968. Other records include those of Devon Electric and General Services Ltd; apprenticeship records dating from the 1930s to 1965; a sub-series of conveyances, mortgages and deeds relating to properties owned and developed by Staverton; and records of construction contracts completed in the 1950s. Some records contain information of interest to those studying architecture at Dartington Hall, as Staverton was the contractor for most buildings on the Dartington estate.

There are records of companies formed to market housing developments built by Staverton. Executives of Staverton were involved with several housing co-operative schemes; for instance the Plymouth-based Devon and Cornwall Building Society (1934-1935) and the South Western Co-operative Housing Society Ltd founded in 1944 and continuing today, and records of these independent companies are also included in this series.

Later records cover Staverton operations during difficult economic times in the 1970s and the sale of Staverton to the J T Group plc in the late 1970s.

Access: Archives held by The Dartington Hall Trust are subject to Trust policies which generally follow normal document closure periods for public records. Records that are not governed by the Data Protection Act of 1998 and that are more than 30 years old are open for research. In addition, it is Trust policy that records of people still living are closed.