As rugby fever grips the nation ahead of England’s World Cup Final against South Africa in Japan on Saturday, Rupert Bates finds former rugby internationals tackling the housebuilding game.
A bespoke, brand-new bungalow in South Devon is on the market for £750,000 from Tomahawk Homes, a company launched by two former Premiership rugby players from Exeter Chiefs.
Tomahawk is a fitting name for the business set up last year by Moray Low and Julian Salvi, in tribute to the Tomahawk chop war chant sung by Chiefs fans at Sandy Park, with both players part of the Exeter side that won the 2017 Premiership title.
The four-bedroom bungalow called Legacy is in the village of Bishopsteignton, near Teignmouth, where Tomahawk has already built and sold two four-bedroom detached houses – Horizon, its first project.
The bungalow, beside the Teign estuary, is open-plan living with a mono-pitched roof that runs the full length of the building, with high ceilings, large windows, a designer kitchen and south-facing garden.
Low, a prop forward, won 37 caps for Scotland, while Australian Salvi, a flanker, played for the Brumbies in Canberra, as well as in England for Bath, Leicester and Exeter, where Salvi is now Chiefs defence coach.
Meeting Exeter rugby sponsors and supporters in the property game stirred the pair’s interest in housebuilding, as well as listening to a career advice seminar from Will Smith, chairman of Devon-based Complete Property, which has a land and new homes division and is selling Legacy, with interest expected from both London and the local market.
“With the help of the club and the Rugby Players’ Association, we were able to set up Tomahawk Homes,” said Low. “For me and Julian, it was our first venture into life away from rugby. However, we were able to use rugby and our role with the club to get ourselves in the right position, talking to the right people and, eventually, getting the business off the ground.”
As well as a director of Tomahawk Homes, Low is regional managing director of Thomas Mae Land & Planning, leading residential property development consultants.
“I have been interested in property all my career, having had a number of buy-to-let properties in Scotland and the natural extension is land and development. I met Kevin Ellis (Thomas Mae founder and managing director) and the team and wanted to be part of the South West region which has become home for me and my young family.”
Meanwhile another former rugby international Jason Robinson, a World Cup winner with England in 2003, is also in the housebuilding game, looking to inspire young people to join the industry.
The former England and Sale wing, who scored a try in England’s 2003 triumph, has partnered with modular housing company ilke Homes to tackle misconceptions around careers in construction and manufacturing.
The I Can Do Anything initiative will offer practical classroom lessons in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects for pupils of Queensway Primary School in Leeds.
The partnership will promote careers in STEM and construction. ilke Homes hopes that by showing construction as an exciting and viable career, they can inspire the next generation of housebuilders, manufacturers and engineers, as the skills shortage continues to exacerbate the housing crisis.
Over half of young people have never given construction or manufacturing any consideration in their career choices, according to research by housebuilder Redrow in 2017.
The initiative follows the launch of the ilke Academy, the first onsite training facility for a modular housing company, teaching skills in modern methods of construction to people of all backgrounds.
Beyond classroom training, the initiative will coach the children in a variety of sports, promoting the importance of health and wellbeing.
“Not so long ago I was an ordinary pupil in an ordinary Leeds primary school. I wasn’t a rugby player, I hadn’t won a World Cup. That is what I am trying to teach the children, that their futures are in their hands. I have been extremely privileged to play international rugby, but my career would never have hit the heights it did without people giving me the support and advice I needed from a young age,” said Robinson.
Dave Sheridan, executive chairman of ilke Homes, added: “No-one is too young to be inspired. With a growing number of people disenchanted in a career in construction and manufacturing, we must find new ways to encourage young people to enter our industry and provide the homes that people up and down the country deserve.”
With thanks to:
www.tomahawkhomes.co.uk
www.thomasmae.co.uk
www.completeproperty.co.uk
www.ilkehomes.co.uk