Henry Boot has put its &amp;£80 million-turnover housebuilding division up for sale to focus on commercial property and plant. The firm is one of the few remaining contractor/housebuilders left in the industry. The firm confirmed the sale last month, but has been seeking a buyer since last year.<p></p><p> Chief executive Jamie Boot said: &amp;“Land prices have risen significantly over the past few years. We have property and land management divisions and a plant side and there are cash demands on all those businesses. </p><p> &amp;“We don&amp;’t want to have to retrench our customer base, so our view was that we would look at offers for the housebuilding business.&amp;” </p><p> The division has offices in Derby, Birmingham, Doncaster and Bristol and employs more than 100 staff. Henry Boot also builds houses in Scotland out of a Glasgow office but this business has been run down in recent years. </p><p> Housing was one of the drivers behind last year&amp;’s group pre-tax profits of &amp;£13.4 million and completions have risen from 160 in 1991 to 651 in 2000.</p><p></p>