Strongvox Homes

Strongvox Homes are carefully and beautifully designed to a high specification, with the emphasis on making each house individual.

Toby Ballard
Managing Director
After completing a degree in Valuation and Estate Management at the University of the West of England, Bristol, Toby started working with a local developer and completed some of his training in Maidstone, Kent. Toby joined Linden Homes in 1995 as Land Buyer based in Godstone, Surrey, working throughout the South East. He soon became Land Director and was part of the management team that undertook a management buyout of Linden in 2000. Toby moved back to Bristol in 2001 as Managing Director of Linden Homes Western. In February 2007, Linden Homes was sold to Galliford Try, with the Linden Homes name being retained as a regional brand. Aware of the advantages of smaller, local developers, Toby was looking to set up on his own when he was approached by Strongvox in 2007. Finding this to be a great opportunity and a perfect fit, Toby became Managing Director in January 2008.

Robert Alford
Land Director
After a spell in the Merchant Navy, Robert joined his family business, Alford Brothers, in 1967. While working there, he completed the Chartered Institute of Building exams at Bristol Polytechnic (now the University of the West of England). Alford Brothers were general contractors and developers, established in 1938. Although a qualified builder, Robert started out in the estimating and surveying side of the business, before moving into planning and then land buying by the late 1970s. In 1974, his family business was sold to Prowting Homes, and Robert continued to work there for the next 30 years. During this time he developed a close relationship with the Prowting family, as well as a deep knowledge of the local industry. He left in 2004, not long after Prowting Homes was purchased by Westbury Homes. Today, Robert is one of the most experienced land buyers operating in the South West. As fascinated by building and developing as he ever was, Robert is delighted to once again be working with the Prowting family as financiers of Strongvox. He is looking forward to taking on many different types of schemes in future with the strong team at Strongvox.

Robert Topazio
Finance Director
Robert started out in finance in his home county, Somerset, in 1981. Ten years later he joined Magnus Homes where he co-ordinated its diverse entities in the Midlands and South West, while also completing his CIMA exams at the University of the West of England. When Magnus Homes was acquired by Prowting Homes in 1997, Robert became Finance Manager for the South West. It was here that he developed working relationships with the founders of Strongvox. Robert’s career advanced further when Westbury Homes bought Prowting Homes in 2002, making him Regional Accountant. He left after Westbury Homes was sold to Persimmon in 2006 and spent some time working within Barratts, the UK’s largest home builder. Finding it somewhat restrictive, he left within a year. When Robert joined Strongvox in November 2006, he was given a challenging brief, which included setting up the in-house finance function. He describes his current role as rewarding and liberating, and enjoys having the opportunity to make a difference.

Jamie Wadsworth
Operations Director
Following a successful former career in the Army as a Military Engineer Jamie Wadsworth joined Strongvox as Operations Director.

Jamie spent 16 years in construction site management. After spells with Hills Properties and Kings Oak honing his Site Management skills, he progressed on to contracts management and was most recently Project Director at Thomas Homes, a privately owned company delivering a range of homes from pioneering micro one-bed apartments to top of the range five-bed rural properties and the conversion of a landmark 120ft. water tower in Basingstoke.

One of his latest schemes was overseeing the flagship construction /conversion of Brunel’s railway workshops in Swindon into a large mixed-use scheme. Attracted to Strongvox by the opportunity to lead a professional and motivated team, he is looking forward to bringing a whole company perspective in managing key issues within the company and taking responsibility for driving the build process and unlocking the long term vision of Strongvox and its directors.