The rural manufacturer building his legacy from handmade bricks

The founder and chief executive of the York Handmade Brick Company has the industry in his blood, as he is part of the family that started and ran George Armitage & Sons for 160 years before its sale to Marshalls in 1988.

Mr Armitage had spent almost all of his career in the family firm, having become the company’s first graduate employee when he started as a trainee fitter, before working his way up to become sales director and marketing director of the firm that employed 600 people and turned over £20m.

“George Armitage was sold to Marshalls in June 1988 – June 20, 1988 – and on that day I walked in here,” he said, describing the site near Easingwold which was the home to the Alne Brick Company. “It was a completely derelict site, I shudder to think about it now.”

His decision to build something himself from scratch came from a self-confessed “love of bricks”, but also a desire to do something more.

“I had a philanthropic side, I wanted to put something back into the industry and create jobs and be a good employer,” he said. “I think that part has, by and large, been achieved. We now employ 30 people, generally unskilled roles, and I think we pay quite well in relation to most manual work.”

York Handmade Company produce 4.5m bricks a year, specialising in non-standard shapes and sizes, and its bricks have been used in buildings as varied as the Shard and Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester.

Those projects were among the few highlights of the recession years, during which the business saw its turnover drop by half.

Mr Armitage said: “They were tough times, I wouldn’t like to underestimate that.

“We had some nice work during the recession – Chetham’s and the Shard – and that was very helpful as it kept us on the map.”

“The recession, which for us lasted from 2008 to 2013, was about survival. I had a lot of stock in the business, in terms of personal finance, and we had to cut back a little on jobs.”

Business has improved significantly over the last 18 months, enabling York Handmade to start building up again.

“I am always trying to look forward, that’s something I got from my father,” said Mr Armitage. “Looking forward means spending money – it means investing and keeping up with modern methods. We have just refurbished part of iur manufacturig plant, we are refurbishing our kilns, we are investing in our IT. We have got to keep investing.

Expansion is a possibility, with the company owning land around its current buildings, but Mr Armitage is focused on “value rather than numbers”.

“We are a niche business, it’s not just numbers, but I think we could look at a turnover of £4m, let’s say in 10 years’ time,” he added.

By then it is unlikely to be David running the business, but his son and current operations director Guy.

“I am beginning to back out now,” he said. I am really handing over to my son now. I shan’t be here for ever. I am in my mid-70s now and it’s important that my succession is in place.

“We are blessed with a good handful of really good managers who we can rely on, and that will be important, that will help him.”

There are, though, no immediate plans to put his feet up.

He added: “My wife says we will never have a retirement together, which is probably partly right. But that’s the way I like it.”