The £600million Birmingham New Street Railway Station redevelopment is one of the largest refurbishment projects currently under way in Europe. The work has to be completed for the station opening on 20 September.

Part of the project is using the Generix rainscreen stone cladding system. Renaissance Stone Fabrication Ltd in Redditch, Worcestershire, was supplying granite for the Generix facade when Renaissance went into voluntary liquidation on 22 July with an estimated deficiency to non-preferential creditors of £240,000.

One of the creditors was John Nolan’s Generix Facades, which was owed £73,000.

Penalties for delaying the opening of Birmingham New Street would have been severe, so, says John: “When the liquidater stepped in, we stepped in.”

John formed a new company called Generix Stone Fabrication Ltd on 3 August to take over the assets of Renaissance. The staff who had been made redundant were re-engaged. The previous owner, Westley Harding, was also engaged to manage the operation.

John Nolan says the company has three five-axes CNC machines that are producing kitchen worktops during the day and granite rainscreen cladding at night. John has been involved with rainscreen systems for many years, describing himself as “a rainscreen man who had to learn about stone as quickly as possible.”

The Generix stone rainscreen system is being marketed by Taylor Maxwell, based in Bristol and with 13 other offices around the country. John Nolan says the system is increasingly popular with 60,000m2 currently out to tender in Scotland and 100,000m2 in England.

The Birmingham New Street project has already won its first award – the Major Projects category in the Railway Industry Innovation Awards on 26 June.