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“We’re in our second year of trading in the black after five difficult years,” said Mr Burbidge. “We’ve reset our business, are well-placed to invest and add value and we see good opportunities for growth and to win market share through serving customers slightly differently.” West Port is also upbeat for 2023 – its 25th anniversary year. “We’re in a stronger position than we were this time last year and 2022 was one of our strongest years ever,” said Mr Newey. With UK economic projections now less dire, Gowercroft is in positive mood too. “Our turnover has increased 150% since 2019 and we aim to continue this growth trajectory over the next three years,” said Mr Madge.


New products are seen as further underpinning business development. Gowercroft, for instance, is seeing the first projects coming through the factory for its new Frontier range of windows and doors, which are billed as delivering ‘exceptional thermal and acoustic performance, whilst maintaining a traditional British aesthetic’. “We are also launching a new contemporary front door, which we think will be a game-changer in terms of flexibility of design, functionality, and thermal performance,” said Mr Madge.


New from Richard Burbidge are inset glass panels for its Elements Collection of oak or pine stair rails, plus Re-Newel customisable cladding kits for easily modernising old turned newels.


“These come in pine or oak veneer with a very stable poplar backing,” said Mr Burbidge, adding that Archwood has a programme of further product launches to its year end. West Port sees further opportunity for developing its fire door capabilities. “There are new opportunities all the time, and we’re in an ever stronger position to respond,” said Mr Newey. “For instance, we’ve just been asked to produce an anti-ligature, anti- barricade design for psychiatric and other secure facilities.”


As stated, there’s also a lot happening at these businesses in that other indicator of positivity, investment. Besides its £750,000 spend on solar panels, Archwood is mid implementation of a new £300,000-plus enterprise resource planning software system and is spending £150,000 on projects to cut energy use. It’s also looking at a machinery spending programme.


Gowercroft spent a further £350,000 in 2022 on front-end machinery capacity to enable it to cope with “increased order volumes and further rapid growth in coming years”. Meanwhile West Port is set to install a


bespoke new German-made production line, giving it potential to double fire door capacity. ■


Above left: Peter Buckley, Gowercroft partnerships manager (left) with Rick Wallis (from Southfield Windows) Above right: Gowercroft leadership team with new machinery


GOWERCROFT GROWS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME


Timber window and door manufacturer Gowercroft Joinery is doubling the number of dealers in its exclusive partnership scheme. Longer term it is looking to grow the network further still. The company, which is just marking its quarter century anniversary, set up the scheme in 2022 and currently has 10 partner dealers. “Partners have exclusive rights to supply our timber windows and doors in their


geographic area,” said Peter Buckley, Gowercroft partnerships manager. “They are also backed by the benefits of our customer relationship management and quoting systems, product training, plus extensive technical resources and support.” “They vary from small husband and wife timber-only outfits, to large businesses with multiple showrooms and smaller manufacturers looking to improve their margins by buying in base products and manufacturing supplemental parts,” added managing director Andrew Madge. He explained that every partner is required to have their own showroom. They undertake all sales and marketing, as well as surveying, order confirmation, and installation aspects of the business. “The Gowercroft role is purely as a manufacturer and we give them access to an online system, where they can produce real-time quotes for clients based on their chosen gross margin,” said Mr Madge.


Mr Buckley said the package of support represents a “fantastic opportunity” for start- ups, as well as established manufacturers and installation companies wanting to upscale and differentiate themselves from local competitors through offering Gowercroft’s “innovative and award-winning range”. The company described the results of the scheme to date as “fantastic”. “Some partners have added as much as £500,000 to their turnover,” said Mr Buckley. “Our quoting software allows them to price customer projects remotely and guarantees a specific product margin to suit their business.” The company is launching phase two of the scheme at the FIT windows and door show


at the NEC in May. It plans to appoint a further 10 partners – companies that “are ready for the next stage of their growth”. “The eventual aim is to have 30 partners spread throughout the UK,” said Mr Madge.


“We already have quite a wide geographic spread, from Devon to the Lake District, and are now looking to fill the gaps between existing dealers to have full coverage, while also expanding into Scotland, Wales and potentially further afield.” Rick Wallis of Southfield Windows, a supplier of high end PVC-u and aluminium windows, described becoming Gowercroft partner for south-west England as “an excellent business decision”. “It has enabled us to extend our product range and reach new customers,” he said. “The addition of high-end timber windows and doors to our product portfolio has added significant value to our business and opens up new margin opportunities.” ■


www.ttjonline.com | May/June 2023 | TTJ


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