Barratt chief executive Mark Clare said: “Under his leadership the company brought homeownership within reach of many people through innovative support for home buyers and the high profile way it was promoted.

“I believe that it is no exaggeration to say that there are hundreds of thousands of people in the UK today, across every walk of life, that have bought or lived in homes inspired by Sir Lawrie.”

Raised in the North East, he left school at 14 and initially trained as an accountant.

But frustrated at the high purchase prices of houses for first-time buyers, in 1953 he decided to go ahead and build his own house in Darras Hall, Newcastle.

He established Barratt Developments five years later and, as chairman and chief executive, invested heavily in marketing to grow the firm into one of the Britain’s biggest house builders.

The firm rode through ups and down of the market, notably its most turbulent followed a damning ITV World in Action programme criticising timber frames and starter homes that saw sales slump by half.

He completely restructured the company, abandoned timber frame and launched new product ranges, once again restoring profitability before retiring in 1988.

His knack for turning around the house builder’s fortunes saw him come out of retirement to rescue the firm from the housing crisis in the early nineties before finally handing back the keys in 1997.

He is widely regarded to have made the single biggest individual contribution to the house building industry in the post War years.