Tony Townend has just become the new Managing Director of William Anelay Ltd, taking on a legacy that stretches back 265 years. He and Charles Anelay spoke to NSS about their plans for the future of the industry’s oldest firm.

Traditional masonry companies don’t come any more traditional than William Anelay Ltd, based in Osbaldwick in Yorkshire. It has a history stretching back 265 years, making it the oldest masonry company in the country and, as far as it knows, the second oldest construction company in the country (only R Durtnell & Sons in Kent seems to lay claim to a longer provenance).

It is quite a legacy inherited by Tony Townend, who has just been appointed as the new Managing Director.

Among those he will be working with is Charles Anelay, the eighth generation of his family in a company that is not only now involved in the restoration and conservation of the built heritage of York and the surrounding area, but which built a certain proportion of it in the first place.

Perhaps the most famous house built by Anelay is Goddard’s House, now the regional offices of the National Trust. It was built for Noel Terry of Terry’s chocolate fame. The company also built Bishopsbarn for architect Walter Brierley, whose promise of work first brought William Anelay to York from Doncaster, where the company had spent the previous 153 years, in 1900.

Taking responsibility for such a long and distinguished history, especially at a time of such economic difficulties, could be daunting for the new MD, but he has had time to get used to it because he has been the Operations Director of the company working closely with his predecessor, Vernon Carter, since the management buy-out of 2006. “Vernon drove forward the public face of the company,” says Tony.

One of the ways he did that was by recruiting Sharon McCutcheon as Marketing Manager. “She brought a whole new way of looking at marketing,” says Tony. “We have become very purposeful in the way we look for business.

“One of things I find refreshing now is that we understand the market – which sectors are shrinking and which still have some money.”

The market that most obviously still has money is outside William Anelay’s traditional stronghold in the North – notably London. Charles Anelay has taken responsibility for opening some new channels of communication to the capital and Tony Townend says that while the name of William Anelay is best known in the North, it is a company that has worked nationally for a long time. It has the specialist project management skills to take on work wherever those skills are needed and while it uses its own people in its own area, will use local labour in conjunction with its specialists further afield.

Two notable examples Anelay has worked on are at Althorp in Northampton, the home of the family of Diana, Princess of Wales (Anelay made the memorial to Diana in the lake there as well as carrying out many phases of restoration) and Astley Castle in Nuneaton. You can see many more examples of William Anelay’s work on the website www.williamanelay.co.uk. “We now have associations with enough people to be able to work very easily from Newcastle to Northampton,” says Charles Anelay.

Work has become harder to find for everyone in the past four years and that has been reflected in the number of people working at William Anelay and in the past 18 months another 18 people have left the company – about 20% of the workforce.

William Anelay has for a long time offered positions to the masons of the French organisation the Campignons du Devoir. The improving masons travel around different masonry companies to expand their range of skills. Fewer are now being offered places, although the company is still taking on apprentices. Surprisingly, perhaps, it says it has had fewer applications for the apprentice vacancies this year than at any point in the previous 10 years. Tony suspects the construction industry might be losing its attraction as it has been hit worse than many industries by the recession.

William Anelay still has just over 100 employees, which includes a dozen masons, another dozen ‘brickie-masons’, as the company calls them, and 15 site and project managers. Another of the management

buy-out team is Tim Donlon, the Technical Director, and Alan Bowers, the company’s Managing Surveyor, has lately joined the board as Commercial Director.

The skills of Anelay cover a wider area than just stonemasonry because the company specialises in all aspects of conservation and restoration work, including joinery, leadwork and brickwork. There is even an in-house roofing company, Lowery Roofing. And the group has a separate company, called Kentside because it is next to the River Kent in the Lake District, that it formed in 2010.

Tony: “It was a bolt-on opportunity that arose because a company we had worked with for a while was looking for management support. We decided we would very much like to be there. It doesn’t have the big projects we would usually do but there are a lot of people there who want to refurbish and rebuild.”

It does not mean William Anelay is looking for acquisitions. Tony: “This was an opportunity that came along and was the right thing to do at the time. It’s not part of the plan to buy a lot of companies.”

William Anelay also opened an office in Manchester after the management buy-out and quickly gained two high-profile projects in the city – the conversion of the Pugin-designed Gorton Monastery into a business and conference centre and part of the restoration of the Victoria Baths that won the BBC’s first Restoration programme.

At the time of the buy-out William Anelay turned over about £8.5million. As the boom rolled out, turnover rose to £17million in 2008. With the credit crunch and subsequent recession that led to highly competitive tendering, turnover fell to £11.5million.

Tony: “One of the things we have seen is a change in the style of company involved in conservation. People used to value specialisation but now they are prepared to look at two men and van. Anything under £200,000 and it’s perceived that these small operations can do it.”

William Anelay has had reason to be relieved at decisions it took in 2008. In the face of Lottery heritage funding being diverted to the Olympics, Sharon McCutcheon gazed into her crystal ball and the management decided to target the private market more and look for more new build work.

Tony: “Until then new build wasn’t on the radar. We’re not looking to become house builders but we are very happy to look at high end buildings that need our specialist skills.” And it has paid off. In the past year the company has had a purple patch and turnover has topped £20million.

One of the projects it won was for a new-build private house with more than £1million worth of Johnsons Wellfield sandstone, including some spectacular masonry features, and marble and granite from Italy. “It’s an absolute privilege to have been involved in it,” says Tony.

It is projects of that nature that retain their value and where clients appreciate the skills of the masons.

One of the latest projects the company has won is a £1.6million contract to create new mobility access to the Minster in York, which will involve the major re-working of steps of the South Transept to incorporate a ramp.

Charles Anelay thinks it is interesting that everyone was concerned about the disability legislation when it was introduced but now it is simply accepted. He believes current concerns about making historical buildings energy efficient will go the same way. “In 10 years it will just be accepted,” he says.

But for the future in general he says it is hard to predict where construction is going. “There’s been a bit of a surge over the past few months… some of it expected, some of it not. There’s more around at the moment than we thought there would be.”

Tony adds: “Looking forward we are a little bit more than quietly optimistic.”