Founded in Hammersmith, London, in 1880, George Wimpey Limited was a major British construction firm. Post Second World War, Wimpey's civil engineering and building divisions saw substancial national and international growth and by the 1970s had become the largest homebuilding contractor in the UK. After a decline in fortunes in the 1980s and 1990s, Wimpey merged with Taylor Woodrow to from Taylor Wimpey, the dominant homebuilder in the current UK market.