This Is Guernsey

TO MANY people, Fort George is a group of expensive houses perched at the top of Le Val des Terres. Almost disowned by many islanders, its past seems long forgotten. But, in fact, the 10-year redevelopment of the exclusive site began only in the late 1960s.

One man ideally placed to tell the story of this transformation is John Hainsworth, whose building firm, J. D. Hainsworth & Co., carried out much of the work.

‘When I started on it, some people said, “Johnny Hainsworth’s bitten off more than he can chew this time”,’ he said, gazing out at the rain on the swimming pool of the large St Andrew’s house that is home during the summer. He spends most of the winter in Spain.

‘But later on they were calling me a jammy so-and-so,’ he smiled.

Born in Southampton to Guernsey parents, John’s family ended up trapped in the UK due to the German occupation. But he eventually returned in 1948 and became an apprentice carpenter.

As was often the case at the time, when he got engaged, he took out a States loan and bought a plot of land. But rather than handing the job over to a builder, he enlisted the help of friends and between them they built a house.

With this first success under his belt, John took on similar projects for others, working mainly with his friend, John Martel. They began putting up houses for about £1,900.Eventually they started building open-market ones because of the greater profits. They had completed Le Clos Galliot and Le Varclin, both in St Martin’s, when he became interested in Fort George.

‘The States put it up for sale because they decided they needed wealthy people to come over here,’ he said. ‘They put it out to tender and were looking for the best idea for developing it.’

The area was sold to Fort George Developments, a company formed by English firm Rush and Tomkins, which had completed several major government contracts.

It paid £110,000 for the land, which Guernsey had bought from the Crown in 1958 for £25,000, and planned to build 120 houses.

Several were for directors of the company, but, according to John, it was having limited success with the general public.

Teaming up with estate agent Ben Lovell of Lovell and Partners, he flew to London and made Rush and Tomkins an offer to get involved in the project.

However, the idea was turned down as the UK firm was reluctant to do so at such an early stage. John returned home disappointed.Undeterred, he soon went back to the company with a proposal to buy some of the land and in July 1967 he signed a deal for plots five to 10, at £15,000 for the lot. John was convinced his firm’s efficiency would allow him to build and sell at an attractive price. ‘We had a strong, loyal workforce - men who had worked for the company for many years, all trades working in harmony together and with our regular subcontractors and all under the supervision of an excellent site manager, Frank Knight,’ he explained. They started work and sure enough, the houses sold.

As they did, so he went back to buy more land.

Eventually, he was ready to take on the jewel in the crown: the citadel. While others’ plans for this site had repeatedly been rejected, John enlisted the help of architect Geotge Bramall & Associates and gained the required permissions. The houses are in what was the moat around the citadel and the bridge which lead into it can still be seen.

Somewhere beneath the lawn which covers the centre and at what was once the very heart of the fort is a well. As an experiment, a brightly-coloured dye was put down and it eventually surfaced at the Guernsey Brewery.

Everything was going swimmingly on the redevelopment until 1971, when uncertainty about the UK’s entry into the European Common Market and Guernsey’s subsequent status brought about a slowing in the housing market. John accurately predicted the outcome and carried on building and when the question was cleared up, houses began to sell again. In all, his company built 44 of the homes at Fort George.