Above left: Roy at King George Dock in 1957 Above right: Receiving an OBE from the Queen
helped secure the post. It was coming up to Christmas 1968 and the job started January, so driving lessons were in order – and fast.
Moving to Nottingham for the role, he met his first wife, Jude, whose father David was a successful grocery trade businessman. Then he was headhunted by joinery firm Trent Holdings as sales and marketing manager. It was a steep learning curve and the business was “not in a good place”. “But I managed to turn things around and soon was almost running the show.” Trent was acquired not long after by accountant David Sawyer – and it became clear Roy and the firm’s new chairman did not see eye-to-eye. The latter thought it a bright idea to diversify into coffee tables. Eight thousand were made and none sold, until Roy, who’d opposed the move, drew on his father-in-law’s contacts to find a customer. Eventually Barkers of London took the lot.
Roy was also at odds with David Sawyer himself and they parted company. The oil crisis notwithstanding, he then got a job as product manager at the Crosby joinery group and within five years was chief executive of sales and marketing. While there he got an unexpected call from playwright Michael Frayn. He wanted to know if people in Roy’s industry had fun! He was researching for a new play and Roy obliged him from a wealth of anecdotes. ‘Make and Break’ went on to win the London Evening Standard Award for best comedy. Less amusing was the early 80s recession. Business was tough and Roy forecast Crosby was set to make a loss. He advised that it cut 300 jobs or go bust.
The next move was to Bowater Building Products, where he became managing director of Bowater Joinery, again tasked with turning the business around. It was challenging. Unions were at the height of their power and didn’t take kindly to management on the shop floor. Roy insisted, however, and was met with “six hundred workers banging their tools on their workstations to show their disapproval of my presence in ‘their space’”.
Bowater Joinery needed serious surgery, but was another successful revival, losing £4m in 1985, but making a £2m profit in 1986. In 1987 Roy was instrumental in selling the business to a Swedish investment bank – he also became BWF president for the first time, the youngest ever in the role.
When his period of office ended, he decided with colleagues to launch a management buyout of Bowater. It cost £12m and Roy had to dig deep, secretly remortgaging his house. But four years later Norcros bought the business, renamed Sarek Joinery, for £16m. “I was suddenly a million pounds richer, which meant I could finally tell my wife I’d remortgaged our home,” says Roy. Another call from headhunters led to Roy becoming chief executive of Whitecroft plc’s building products division, which included Leaderflush Doors. In a key move, he started the latter making fully factory-finished fire door sets, whereas previously it sent doors out for window fitting. “It took 18 months to master the process, but turnover tripled,” writes Roy.
His subsequent move was to engineer Whitecroft’s acquisition of the American- owned, £18m-turnover Shapland & Petter joinery firm for just £2.75m to form Leaderflush Shapland, later LS Group. In the noughties, Roy became chairman of the Construction Confederation, a role which brought him the ear of politicians, including on new rules for building site health and safety. LS Group meanwhile continued to grow and Roy helped persuade the SIG construction product group to buy it.
“It was great news for me as I owned 40%,” he writes.
He was then invited to head up Walton Garden Buildings. It was not an entirely happy experience, but the cloud had a silver lining as Roy met second wife Kirsty at the company.
The final chapter of One Hull of a Journey covers the establishment, with partner Mark de Rozarieux, of their own operation, The Performance Window Group. The acquisition of Mumford and Wood was the first building block, followed by Clearwood Joinery,
online operation
timberwindows.com and Dale Joinery. Roy later stepped back from day-to-day running of the business, but remained a shareholder. The business, now the Performance Timber Products Group, was acquired by Bergs Timber of Sweden in 2021.
At the close of his memoir, Roy looks back at his life and career with some satisfaction. “I hope my story – and my generation’s willingness to think of the potential in the things we do rather than just the risk – provides inspiration for those who aim high, no matter how old or what their background,” he concludes.
That’s not the end of the story, however. As you can read in his guest column in this edition, Roy is now involved with the New Window Co (see p16). The journey continues. ■
Above: Roy Wakeman has worked at many timber and joinery companies over the years
www.ttjonline.com | May/June 2023 | TTJ
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