History

Founded in 1935 by C A E C 'Jimmy' Howard as a coal and coke delivery business.

In 1939 when war broke out, the company was approached by the Air Ministry to supply gravel reserves throughout the East of England for runway construction. The Group operated more than a dozen pits.

After the war the company moved into other businesses. Jimmy Howard displayed his true entrepreneurial spirit by acquiring a diverse range of retailing activities in and around Bedford.
He also purchased the St Johns site in Bedford on which old aircraft hangars were built and this was the Head Office together with the general haulage business and warehousing.

In the mid 1950s the Group acquired a site adjacent to a power station in Northampton and they started to manufacture building blocks out of spent furnace ash from the power station.

The factory was to become the first of a chain of 17 similar block plants stretching from Hampshire to the Scottish border. Some plants were set up from scratch while others were acquired. By the late 1970s the company's main product, Hemelite, was widely acknowledged as a market leader.

In 1983 Tarmac acquired the block making business except for three companies, one of which Sellite Blocks, remains part of the Group today. Howards retained the engineering, transport, warehousing and some commercial property including St Johns in Bedford.

Following the sale to Tarmac the Group expanded its commercial property interests, most noticeably in achieving planning consent for what is now St Johns Retail Park in Bedford. The company acquired and developed a sizeable commercial property portfolio, spanning office, industrial and retail, during this period.

The engineering business was started by Mr Brian Howard when he joined the company in 1960. It built block making machines and also developed the 'Trucks a Daisy' which operated in coal yards. In 1983 it expanded its activities into process plants, mechanical handling projects and latterly bridge building before its closure in 2000.

Following a share buy back in 2003 the company is now wholly owned by members of the CAEC Howard family.

It was decided that the Board should once again become more entrepreneurial in its activities. As well as building up the property investment side of the Group, property development projects and certain venture capital investments were pursued.

In November 2005, it was decided to relocate the Head Office to Cambridge after 70 years in Bedford.

In September 2006 the company demerged its trading business from the investment group to create a new separate trading company, Howard Ventures. The activities of the Trading Group are split into 3 divisions, HPG Developments (property development), Howard Capital Partners (venture capital finance) and Howard Property Management. The investment group continues to acquire commercial properties.