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Morgan was holding forth for pretty much the first time since last March鈥檚 boardroom coup, and the topic was the launch of Redrow鈥檚 New Heritage collection of house designs. He clearly said something right as shares rose 6.6% on the day, and have kept broadly to that level since.

Morgan made no apologies for re-focusing the business on family homes of traditional design, rather than starter homes and flats. 鈥淲e went down the wrong route,鈥� he said, admitting the Debut range was unimpressive.

Morgan maintains that traditional housing is what people want to buy, and there鈥檚 lots of evidence to support that. But the new range will also significantly increase the average price of a Redrow home, and if sales go well, that will increase the company鈥檚 margins.

It will also mean that the firm can return to the more traditional cash-conserving housebuilder model, because family homes, unlike flatted developments, don鈥檛 require a big capital investment before sales can be made. Using this model, Morgan said he could double the amount of homes he built, if it weren鈥檛 for the planning system. But he insisted demand wouldn鈥檛 be an issue.

One thing that is clear is that Redrow鈥檚 designs weren鈥檛 solely responsible for the rise in share price 鈥� they will make up only 2% of Redrow鈥檚 sales this year, moving to 50% next year. Rather, it seems to be the urgency Morgan鈥檚 return has injected into the firm.

Alastair Stewart, analyst at Investec, says he鈥檚 impressed. 鈥淗e鈥檚 put the fear of God into anyone not performing, and the result is a much more focused firm, where the employees know there鈥檚 someone passionate and aggressive in charge.鈥�

The next year will tell if the performance matches the rhetoric.