Who we are  

Mears is the leading social housing repairs and maintenance provider in the UK and a growing presence in the domiciliary care market. Mears also has a subsidiary mechanical and engineering division. We’re an ambitious company with a powerful vision, operating in a growing market, with an excellent financial base, strong management, great people and excellent clients. 

Our business is focused on the social housing and community sector where we bring the highest standards of care to people, their homes and their communities.

We look to win long-term contracts for repairs and maintenance work, Decent Homes Standard upgrading, domiciliary care and improvement projects for community spaces, facilities and other factors affecting quality of life. 

More than 8000 people work here and together with our clients, we maintain, repair and upgrade people’s homes and support the wider community – much-needed work that improves quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people in the UK. We carry out more than 3,000 repairs each day to 500,000 houses nationwide and we work in communities as diverse as inner city estates and remote rural villages. We provide domiciliary care to over 13000 people per year 

Our purpose 

Our purpose is to make a positive difference to the communities we serve by improving homes, improving neighbourhoods and improving lives. We do this by constantly striving to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction, efficiency and effectiveness in the social housing and community care sectors. 

Our approach is based on the development of outstanding partnerships with employees, clients, tenants and the wider community. Success enables us to create great opportunities for our employees and sustainable value for our shareholders.
 
What we do

• We help to raise quality of life for tenants and the wider community.
  
• We aim to be the model partner for our clients - combining excellence in delivery with a social responsibility.
  
• We deliver good returns for our shareholdersWe provide great jobs, training and opportunities.
  
• We provide great jobs, training and opportunities

Our strategy

Our three key priorities are:

• To recruit, retain and develop excellent people, creating a strong, vibrant mix of new and experienced employees, with particular emphasis on recruiting and developing local people.
  
• To develop close, long-term partnerships with clients and communities, which enable us to achieve the best results, increase the scale and scope of what we do and contribute more.
  
• To constantly search for new and better ways to support clients and help tenants, enabling us to achieve better results for everyone, from minimising disruption to people’s lives to reducing cost and waste.

Our approach

The Mears approach is to listen carefully to people’s needs and to always try to find better ways to meet those needs. We believe tenants should be involved at all stages and always put their needs at the heart of what we do. We call our approach the Mears Way and we always try to capture and share the best ideas, processes and methods.  

As the market leader in our sector we set out:

• To work with partners who share our values, our long-term approach and our determination to find better ways to do things.
  
• To help clients and other organisations meet and learn from one another.
  
• To develop and support innovative ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness.  

An example of these commitments in action is our support for the Thought Leader conferences, which bring together people in social housing and the community to debate important topics.

You can find out more at www.thoughtleader.org.uk

Our history

Some key dates:

• 1988 – Mears Group starts life as a small, private building contractor.
  
• 1992 – First multidisciplinary maintenance and repairs contract from a Local Authority takes the company into support services for the first time. Annual turnover rises to £2.5 million.
  
• 1995 – Eight branches now in operation. Turnover is £10.7 million.
  
• 1996 – Chairman Bob Holt leads flotation of the company on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, creating Mears Group plc. The company has 83 employees and turnover of £12 million.
  
• 1997-2001 – Key acquisitions completed including Haydon & Co, which alone adds more than 500 employees to the Group.
  
• 2005 – Turnover reaches £203.5 million and the order book reaches £1 billion for the first time. Mears Group wins ‘Decade of Excellence’ and ‘Best Performing Share Over 5 Years’ awards at the AIM Awards.
  
• 2006 – Mears has more than 2,500 employees and is among the top 20 companies in Europe in its sector for employment growth.
  
• 2007- Mears adds Careforce to the Group and grows to over 5000 employees.
  
• 2008 - Mears moves to the main market at the London Stock Exchange and the business grows to 8000 employees with a £420m turnover.
  
• 2009 - Mears Group wins PLC Award for New Company of the Year on the LSE Main Market.  Mears is listed on the FTSE4Good Index in recognition of its Community and Social Responsibility activity.

Our structure

Mears Group PLC is the parent group for a number of businesses, all of them united by a shared set of values and operating within one clear group strategy.

Group businesses:

• Mears Limited carries out responsive repairs, gas servicing, Decent Homes upgrading and a voids services, which enable clients to maximise the efficiency of their properties.
  
• Careforce provide care at home for the elderly and for people with physical and/or learning disabilities primarily through Local Authorities.
  
• Haydon Mechanical & Electrical is a mechanical and electrical building services contractor that specialises in design and installation for residential developments and other major projects, including new build and refurbishment.
  
• Scion Group provides electrical mechanical and building services, grounds maintenance, soft and hard landscaping and facilities management.
  
• Laidlaw Scott is a building and maintenance contractor that specialises in serving housing associations and Local Authorities in Scotland.