Leisure sector fuels Brewster Bye growth

ARCHITECT Brewster Bye is enjoying “significant” growth after securing hotel projects worth over £50m to the firm and seeing a 40% uplift on activity.

Leeds-based Brewster Bye is working on the £100m Flaxby Country Resort near Harrogate with Skelwith Developments, St. Leonard’s Place for Hotel Land and Developments and Ambiance Hotels.

The firm said its latest results are a “fantastic turnaround for an organisation that faced a number of challenges at the outset of the downturn, and has spent the last four years rebuilding”.

Director Mark Henderson said: “The downturn had a real impact on our business, turnover suffered dramatically and we had to reduce staff numbers by over 50%. 

“In order to survive and to re-grow the business, we knew that we needed to maintain a diverse customer base to help spread risk, but we also knew that we needed to focus on, and identify more specific, niche areas of the market where there would be some potential for growth.

“Areas that the management team successfully identified were affordable housing, where we had established a strong track record over many years, and leisure, having previously completed the award-winning Raithwaite Hall Hotel near Whitby.

“We decided to focus our efforts on securing new business in these areas as well as developing other existing sectors which include private residential, retail, and care developments. Thankfully our efforts have paid off and we are starting to see real growth through our books again which has seen a 40% uplift on activity from the previous year. We’re projecting similar growth levels for 2013/14 too. Staffing levels are also on their way up again with six new members of staff joining the team to help us cope with the increased new business.”

Director Chris Austin said that further leisure and hotel developments are in the pipeline for delivery later in the year, to continue the business’s growth.

Over the last year, Brewster Bye has completed over 300 houses and flats, with over 900 dwellings under construction or at design stage for delivery during 2013 to 2015.

Steve Davies, partner at Brewster Bye’s accountancy firm, Mazars, added: “Brewster Bye is a fantastic example of a local business really coming out of the recession positively. Their prudent approach to financial management enabled them to maintain a strong balance sheet that could survive the ravages of the recession when many other businesses failed.

“They quickly identified areas in the market they could really focus on and this is now reaping great rewards as the business is gathering real momentum and generating significant growth both in top line turnover and bottom line profitability.”