Wilson Bowden plc was a British housebuilding and general construction company headquartered in Coalville in central England.

[4] Wilson Bowden was not heavily impacted by the early 1990s recession, unlike several of its competitors, an outcome that was attributed to the firm's relatively conservative land buying practices.

Wilson also completed several strategic acquisitions, such as the Berkshire-based firm Trencherwood in 1996, which had a dominant position in the West Berkshire land market,[8] the long-established housing business of Henry Boot plc in 2003,[9] and the North West-centric developor Roland Bardsley Homes in 2006.

[15][16] During April 2007, just months prior to the opening events of the Great Recession, the company was purchased by Barratt Developments in exchange for £2.2 billion; the move made Barrett the biggest homebuilder in Britain, employing roughly 7,500 people at the time of the acquisition.

[17][18] Within one month of the sale being finalised, David Wilson had retired while the closure of several of the company's offices, the sale of its in-house plumbing and plant hire divisions as well as the discontinuation of its KingsOak Homes brand, had been announced; however, Barrett decided to retain the Wilson Bowden name for some activities.