Ollerton manufacturer lands £1.2m contracts

(L-R) TJ Duncan-Moir and John Hamnett

Ollerton-based manufacturer A1 Flue Systems says it has secured projects totalling more than £1.2m in the last six months after winning a raft of contracts from schools, colleges and universities.

The largest order was more than £250,000 for red brick university in the south-west of England, but the average cost for a project was around £5,000 for a school or college to have a new flue system designed and installed for the boiler system that provides heat and hot water.

One of the directors of the company, which employs 140 people, TJ Duncan-Moir, said that even though the company is well known for working on many of the UK’s highest-profile projects, it’s the “bread and butter2 projects such as schools, colleges and universities that are the lifeblood of the business.

“We know that the education sector accounts for a large proportion of our projects, but when we looked back over the projects we have completed, it was amazing to see that there were more than 100 schools, colleges and universities in the last six months,” said Duncan-Moir.

“Projects for schools, offices, hotels and other public buildings are our bread and butter, and we have a constant flow of them on the go in our estimating, engineering and manufacturing departments. They sit alongside our large projects such as skyscrapers and other high-profile contracts, such as one we secured earlier this year for a new hospital in Ireland, which alone totals more than €2m.

“The high-profile ones are great for business because they demonstrate our level of expertise – and this is often the reason that we keep winning awards – but projects for schools in particular remind us of the breadth of buildings across the UK that need A1’s flues.”

Sports stadiums have featured prominently in recent months for A1, having installed flue systems at Premier League football grounds (Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and Huddersfield Town) and one in the Scottish Premiership (Heart of Midlothian), as well as at Epsom Downs Racecourse and Headingly, which hosts test matches and is home to Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

Fellow director John Hamnett added that the company is often so focused on delivering a raft of projects at any one time that it’s good to review recent projects to take stock of the wide variety of work the company undertakes.

“Like any SME, we’re always focused on what’s in front of us, and our sights are set on how we deliver those projects, but every now and again it’s good to step back and see what else we can learn from what we’ve done,” said John.

“And it’s this constant striving to keep learning and developing that is the hallmark of our team – and it’s this collective appetite that ensures we continue to strengthen our position as the UK market leader.”

Close