<p><span>Housebuilders, ministers and other key figures have paid tribute to Tony Pidgley CBE, founder and chairman of Berkeley Group, who died suddenly last week.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Pidgley, born in 1947, began his construction career at just 15, forming his own plant hire and haulage company. At 19, he sold the business to Crest Homes, becoming a building director.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>He formed Berkeley in 1976 which evolved into a FTSE 100 company, delivering thousands of homes each year.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said that home building had </span><span>“lost one of its greatest leaders and characters”.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>Having known, “respected and admired” the Berkeley founder for around 40 years, Baseley commented: “His legacy is enormous and through his vision and ability to read the market so well he built one of the best businesses in the UK, a quite extraordinary achievement</span><span>. </span><span>His passion, drive, humour and humanity made him a truly exceptional person, someone I was proud to call a friend.”</span><span></span></p> <p><span>David Thomas, Barratt Developments’ chief executive, described Pidgley as “</span><span>an icon, an inspirational and entrepreneurial leader, who transformed development in London and has left a valuable legacy in communities across the capital. He will be greatly missed.”</span><span></span></p> <p><span>He was “a …