Our Year in Review 2022

Throughout 2022 the UK has faced a number of challenges and periods of uncertainty including the rising cost of living and the political disruption following the resignation of two Prime Ministers and the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

As all of us in the construction supply chain navigate these challenges, we remain committed to supporting our partners and customers to design and build sustainable developments where people thrive.

This year our business has seen numerous exciting events, changes and developments.

In May, we held our annual company sales and admin conferences for the first time since 2019, which enabled all of our teams to reunite with colleagues from across the country. We were also pleased to hold a couple of BBQ socials for the first time at our Head Office during the summer and autumn months. It was lovely to get everyone in the office together and enjoy some delicious homemade food outdoors.

Our Edinburgh office and showroom was relocated to a more central location in Grassmarket, bringing us closer to our customers and providing easier access to a space to explore our range of products and systems. Our Leatherhead team have relocated to a new office in Crawley and they continue to assist their existing customers and supply partners.

We were also delighted to announce the purchase of our Cumbernauld stock site and three timber treatment plants in Scotland. Managing Director of Taylor Maxwell Timber Alex Moffat said, “Having used the site for 10 years, we have built a great relationship with PTG Treatments Ltd and they will remain in situ as the timber treatment providers and running the facility on our behalf”. The new location allows us to stock a greater quantity of facade and timber products to service a wider customer base.

Our Manchester showroom has undertaken a large refurbishment, with new product displays of a range of brick, cladding and masonry materials. A perforated Anvil metal cladding display has been created to portray the well-known Manchester worker bee emblem that represents the Mancunians’ hard work ethic and the city being a hive of activity.

As part of our overall Group Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, we are working hard to transform ourselves into a business that treads lighter on the planet and drives positive change in the construction industry through our approach to our people, our partners and the planet.

Across the year following some engaging and insightful sustainability workshops with our different regional teams, we have already begun to implement some new practices. Individual waste bins have been replaced with dry mixed recycling facilities, a roll out of new electric company cars is underway and individual teams having been finding ways to give back to their local communities through incentives such as food bank donations.

Finally, 16 wellbeing champions from across our offices were selected to complete official training with Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA) to become Mental Health First Aiders. Completed in November, this training should enable them to be there to listen to and guide any colleagues experiencing poor mental health to find appropriate support or additional resources whenever needed.

This year we have continued to support our architectural partners in their mission to encourage innovation in design and commitment to explore ways in which the built environment can enhance people’s lives and react to the challenges the planet now faces in climate and social injustice.

We were delighted to participate in the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) for the fourth consecutive year where we held a series of workshops around sustainability in the built environment. The events allowed us to discuss the global picture of climate change and social inequality and the steps we as a company are taking to achieve our sustainability goals.

We understand that in order to drive positive change, we must work collaboratively with our partners throughout the supply chain. It was for this reason that we partnered with industry leading companies Higgins Partnerships, Michelmersh, Morgan Sindall and Wienerberger to provide their insight into sustainability in construction and discuss the steps they are taking to work towards a carbon net zero construction supply chain. You can find out more about what was discussed at our LFA events here.

After sponsoring the ‘Project Architect of the Year’ award for the past four years, we were excited to continue our partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for a fifth year through the sponsorship of their ‘Building of the Year’ category at the regional awards. In May 2022 we were excited to attend the awards ceremony at RIBA HQ in London and celebrate all the practices that received their award, commemorating their involvement on the buildings recognised for their regional performance as a piece of architecture. To view all the 2022 RIBA award winners, click here.

In September, our timber team had a fantastic day at the Independent Buying Consortium (IBC) Buying Group’s first exhibition conference and dinner, overlooking the legendary Silverstone race circuit in Northamptonshire. The event brought together hundreds of IBC supplier partners and gave them the opportunity to showcase their products and services. You can find out more about the event here.

Fast forward to October, the most prestigious award in architecture, the RIBA Stirling Prize, returned. The award is given to the architect of the building thought to be the most significant of the year for the evolution of architecture and the built environment. This year, the award was won by Niall McLaughlin Architects for The New Library, Magdalene College. A number of other outstanding projects were shortlisted, one of which we were extremely proud to have been involved with, Orchard Gardens. Designed by Panter Hudspith Architects, the Orchard Gardens development forms part of the multi-phase Elephant Park masterplan led by Lendlease, in partnership with Southwark Council. We would like to say a huge congratulations to the team at Niall McLaughlin Architects and all those who were shortlisted!

More recently, a number of exceptional projects were celebrated for their cutting edge clay brick architecture and craftsmanship at The Brick Development Association (BDA) awards. We were excited to see that several projects we were fortunate to be involved with were shortlisted. A huge congratulations to the teams at Squire and Partners, Lyons & Annoot Ltd, Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC and Ibstock Brick who won the Commercial and Sustainability (Commercial) Awards for their project Department Store Studios in London. Taylor Maxwell worked in partnership with the architects and sub-contractors to specify and supply a bespoke blend of three red facing bricks and black bullnose engineering bricks to the stunning contemporary facade.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased digital traffic and changed our perspective on how we interact with our customers. To support this, we redesigned our website to provide our customers with more information about our business including our vision, mission and values, as well as a new resources tool, dedicated to providing our customers with the latest product information including brochures, testing reports and certificates, installation guidelines and technical data sheets.

Despite the challenges we have all faced these past few years, we have continued to work hard with our suppliers and customers to ensure the completion of vital construction projects. This year we have taken a look back at some of our most memorable project case studies. Some of our favourite projects of 2022 include:

• Claywood House, a beautiful family home designed for a wheelchair user that utilises a white linear brick across the facade.
• Department Store Studios, a modern and open co-working space with a contemporary facade completed with a unique arrangement of red facing bricks.
• Gerrard House and Hatfield Close, a colourful reclad project using terracotta cladding that focused on the safety of the residents.
• New Waverley, a development that focused on providing privacy to its residents by using a cleverly designed perforated Anvil metal cladding system.

Be inspired by more of our case studies here.