On the buses contract the largest ever for Rowan Telmac

A BUS refurbishment specialist has secured a £5m contract to supply new seats for 600 London double-decker buses.

It is the largest contract Rowan Telmac has landed in its 30-year history. The company employs 60 people and is based on the Hortonwood Industrial Estate in Telford and Coventry.

The firm has received financial support from Yorkshire Bank.

Rowan Telmac will manufacture the seats for 600 hybrid red buses over the next three years having been sub-contracted to carry out the internal fitting work by Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus which won the overall contract from Transport for London.

Following a management buyout in 2006, managing director Richard Mallard runs Rowan Telmac with his wife, Helen.

Richard Mallard said: “We have manufactured the whole seating from start to finish including the metal work and upholstery – everything in the buses we have supplied as a complete kit.

“We financed around £250,000 ourselves for the seating tooling equipment and to purchase a new 3D tube bending machine from Langbow in Rugeley. We looked at companies all over the country but we chose Langbow because they are on our doorstep.”

Helen Mallard added: “We are the only refurbishment company in the UK that has the capabilities to deal with the whole package and it is great to have the backing of Yorkshire Bank as we look to win more new business.”

Heather Griffin, business development manager at Yorkshire Bank’s Business and Private Banking centre in Temple Row, Birmingham, said Rowan Telmac is a perfect example of a forward-thinking company which continues to diversify and secure new contracts.

She said: “Rowan Telmac started life as a presswork and welding company around 30 years ago and it is now at the forefront of vehicle refurbishment work in the UK.”