Barnsley-headquartered building and construction products manufacturer Naylor Industries, company of Connect Yorkshire EIR Edward Naylor, has expanded into West Yorkshire with a £5.5m concrete fencepost factory in Leeds.
Spanning nearly three acres, the new facility occupies the former Procter Fencing site on Ash Lane in Garforth, which Naylor rescued from insolvency in August 2020.
Chief executive Edward Naylor describes the acquisition as “opportunistic”.
“It ticked a lot of boxes and sat in our comfort zone because we also manufacture grey concrete and supply builders merchants,” he says. “Effectively, we had a business that had a good product offering, some good people, and just needed some investment and normalisation.”
The facility forms part of Naylor Industries subsidiary Naylor Concrete Products, which also operates a 10-acre lintel and precast factory in Barugh Green in Barnsley. Acquired by the group in 2015, the site houses £6m worth of automation equipment imported from Spain.
“That investment was an absolute game changer because suddenly we had capacity,” says Naylor. “It also meant an end to back-breaking work.”
The company is now hoping to replicate that success at Garforth, where the factory is now in the commissioning phase and is set to become operational within the coming weeks.
It features a state-of-the-art precasting machine from French supplier Quadra and a modern batching plant from MCT Italy, designed to address capacity constraints and replace labour-intensive production processes. The company has also installed two product storage tents on site.
The batching plant will be capable of producing both wet and dry concrete, allowing Naylor to manufacture a wider range of products, while also providing the flexibility to introduce additional features, such as coloured concrete.
Paul Whyte, managing director of Naylor Concrete Products, joined the group in 2023 after holding several roles at Somerset-based concrete product manufacturer CPM, now part of Elland-based Marshalls plc.
He believes the investment in the Garforth facility will futureproof the business at a time of declining UK construction output.
“We were dealing with a very old site that was restricting our growth,” says Whyte. “Edward saw the opportunity, not just for the short term but five-to-ten years down the line. At a time when a lot of people aren’t investing, we are and we’re ready for the upturn in the market.”
Adapting to shifting markets
Diversification is embedded in Naylor Industries’ DNA. When Edward Naylor joined the fourth-generation family business in 1993, the market was undergoing vast change.
“Our main business made clay pipes, and that market was declining because plastics had come onto the scene,” he says.
“When my dad died, the £12m turnover business was losing £1m every year, so we had to develop new income streams to make sure we had a future.”
Today, the national group has three core divisions: Naylor Concrete Products, Naylor Specialist Products and Naylor Drainage. The latter is the largest subsidiary, employing 179 people across its Cawthorne headquarters and a satellite plant in Scotland. It recorded turnover of £44.2m in the financial year ending February 2026.
Group turnover stands at £68.8m, with Naylor expecting this to edge closer to £80m as the year draws to a close.
“We’re aiming at 10 per cent growth per annum,” says Naylor. “Sometimes that’s easy to achieve; sometimes it’s nigh-on impossible because construction is in reverse gear.
“We have a scorecard of what we want to achieve, and not just financially. We want to keep people safe, give them development opportunities and avoid trashing the planet.”
Naylor Industries also manufactures handcrafted garden pottery through its Yorkshire Flowerpots business – a joint venture with Welsh-based terracotta pot manufacturer Smith & Jennings.
“It’s making some lovely pots in Britain for a sector that has moved more towards importing from Italy or cheap labour countries like Vietnam or China,” says Naylor. “People like the Made in Britain badge.”
Long-term goals
Over the next year, Naylor Concrete Products expects to increase its Garforth site headcount from seven to around 20, while supercharging manufacturing output.
“We’ll probably be able to double or triple what would usually have been capable with our old system during an eight-hour shift,” says Whyte.
Aside from automation, the subsidiary is also pursuing growth through niche specialisms. It has, for example, developed concrete wastewater and settlement tank systems for water authorities.
“That’s been very successful over the last 12 months,” says Whyte. “With the spend that’s going into that sector over the next three or four years, we should be very busy on that product.”
While Naylor is doubtful the construction market will see a major turnaround over the next year, he remains confident in the business and optimistic about its longer-term prospects.
“We’re trading profitably and generating cash,” he says. “We’re not investing in the plant here to make a quick buck. We’re investing because we can see over the next 20 years we’ll have a plant that manufactures products and keeps people in employment.”
Article via insidermedia.com
