6 South West Building & Construction


May 2011 ENVIRONMENT Firm invests in solar power


A SUCCESSFUL fourth- generation North Devon family business, which has its roots in the 1920s, has become one of the South West’s


most


environmentally advanced small companies thanks to the installation of solar photovoltaic panels that will help it generate much of its own electricity. And, according to Graham Haydon (pictured), the current owner of the widely-respected South Molton-based carpentry and joinery business GS Haydon & Son: ‘We are utterly committed to being in this area, so we want to do everything we can to ensure that our current premises suit all our needs for many years to come. ‘Having the ability to generate


our own power is a big part of that, alongside the existing biomass burner which we fuel with waste wood off-cuts to provide all of our heating in winter.


‘That said, we couldn’t have afforded the cost of solar PV


panels, so we’re really grateful to Business Link for helping us get a capital grant that we matched to cover it.’ It was in 1926 that Graham’s


grandfather George S Haydon founded the company in the town as a wheelwrights business. He moved it just once, in 1931, to new premises in Amory Place, which is where it stayed right up until 2006. This was when Andrew (Graham’s father) and Graham oversaw the move into purpose-built modern premises at the Pathfields Business Park.


As Graham says today:


‘Moving after more than 70 years in one place was a huge step, but our old buildings had limited access and were in a residential area near the centre of town. We run noisy machinery too, so while we never had any complaints, there was always a risk that our neighbours would grow tired of us. ‘With a modern building, we also have the confidence we need


to install the sort of technologies we want in order to reduce our environmental footprint and to cut our running costs.’ The company’s commitment in this area already extended beyond the biomass burner to include the sale of sawdust to a local business, which converts it into briquettes for burning, and to reviewing the potential for rainwater harvesting.


Installing the solar panels was a natural next step, particularly because the company uses power during daylight hours but not at all at night.


According to Graham: ‘Our initial intention was to install a 5kW solar PV array, which would initially provide us with around 21 per cent of our power.’ The company was also attracted by the Government’s Feed-in Tariff (FiT), under which homeowners and businesses are paid a premium rate for any electricity they produce. Taken together, the electricity


When it comes to TIMBER,


we are TOP of the league!


• all treated and graded timber stocked • full range of decking and accessories • fencing, gates, shiplap, loglap, trellis • sheet materials • machine rounded posts, poles and stakes


• hardwoods, oak flooring, plane square edge timber


• screws & bolts, hangings & latchings Come and see us at


Bond Timber Bake Sawmill, Trerulefoot, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 5BW


Tel: 01503 240308 Fax: 01503 240882


E-mail: bondtimber@whbond.co.uk Website: www.whbond.co.uk


®Tanalised and Vacsol are registered trademarks of Arch Timber Protection


.


Tel: 08000 341 941 www.whbond.co.uk


savings and the Feed-in Tariff would save the company around £2,025 each year, increasing in line with price rises. Graham was contacted by Liz Rushton of Business Link’s Improve Your Resource Efficiency (IYRE) service, which is delivered across


the South West by Peninsula Enterprise. As Graham says: ‘Liz carried out an extremely thorough review of our waste management processes and to find where we could reduce energy consumption.’ She endorsed Graham’s plans for solar panels and helped him complete a successful application for a capital grant under IYRE. The panels were installed by specialist local company ECO- Exmoor in late-February and began producing power within hours. For Graham, one of the most pleasing aspects of the work is the protection it gives the business against damaging future rises in the cost of fuel. ‘It’s an excellent safety net against rising costs. I hope to have the confidence in future to install another 5kW set of panels to drive expenses down and generate more through the FiT scheme.’


As Business Link’s Liz Rushton says: ‘It’s great to see such a long-established business take such a forward-looking approach to reducing consumption and waste.


It’s


living proof of the double benefit, for the environment and the bottomline, that just about any business can generate by really getting to grips with today’s green technologies.’ If you would like to know more about the Business Link IYRE and other services that Peninsula Enterprise delivers across Devon and the South West, call 0845 600 9966 or visit www.businessanswers.info.


Huge variety of timber products


BOND Timber based at Bake Sawmill, Trerulefoot, near Saltash in Cornwall, and at Merton near Okehampton in Devon, can supply a huge variety of timber products to suit the needs of both domestic and commercial customers. The business, part of the


family-run WH Bond & Sons group, offers an extensive range of timber products. Items available include garden furniture, decking, fencing and cladding materials, sheets, internal mouldings, hardwoods and western red cedar cladding. Bond Timber keeps large stocks of constructional grade timber including 12 x 4 x 7.8m


graded. As well as large stocks, both sites have treatment facilities operating with the latest state of the art technology. In October 2010, Bond Timber acquired Clinton Gates. The gates are manufactured at the site at Merton and delivered throughout the UK. Gates include five-bar field gates, pedestrian gates and driveway entrance gates made from hardwood or softwood. Gates can be made to measure and supplied with ironmongery and posts. For more information, contact


Bond Timber at Bake Sawmill on 01503 240308. Email: bondtimber@whbond.co.uk. Website: www.whbond.co.uk.


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