We would like to congratulate the Webster & Horsfall Group on their success at the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce (GBCC Awards. Webster & Horsfall Ltd and Latch & Bachelor Ltd won the Excellence in Manufacturing award, and Tyseley Energy Park (TEP) were shortlisted for the Excellence in Sustainability award.

The Webster & Horsfall group joined eighty-two shortlisted organisations on Thursday 16 March at the ICC where they were announced as the winners in the manufacturing award category.

With over 300 years in business, Webster and Horsfall are one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of wire and strip providing bespoke products to a diverse range of clients throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, who won this award alongside their sister company, Latch and Batchelor, who specialise in wire ropes for mining, haulage, structural and general engineering applications.

Speaking about the award, Director Jonathan Horsfall said: “We were honoured to accept the award on behalf of Webster & Horsfall for our commitment to manufacturing excellence. Such excellency would not be possible without the unwavering support and dedication of our employees, customers, and partnerships. Thank you to the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce for recognizing our efforts with this award, among such an esteemed group of companies.”

GBCC’s chief commercial officer Katrina Cooke said: “The judges were extremely impressed by the standard of entries for this year’s award, which reflects the breadth, diversity and talent of businesses across the region.

We would like to thank panel for taking the time to review the applications. We also commend the huge number of companies who took the time to complete entries.”

Having celebrated their 300^th Anniversary in 2020, Webster & Horsfall are the youngest addition to this 14-member group of family firms who all share the distinction of being in business for more than 300 years and plying more or less the same trade then as now. The club has no rules except to provide a lunch to the other members in turn.

Members include:

• CPJ Field, Funeral Directors
• Whitechapel Bell Foundry, Bell Makers
• Lock & Co, Hatters
• Peter Freebody, Boat Builders
• RJ Balson & Son, Butchers (oldest member, established in 1515)
• R Durtnell & Sons, Building Contractor
• Folkes Holdings, Engineering and Real Estate
• Toye, Kenning & Spencer, Regalia and Insignia Manufacturers
• Shepherd Neame, Brewers
• Brookes Mill, Textiles and Real Estate
• C Hoare & Co, Private Bankers
• Fortnum & Mason, Speciality Grocery Store
• Berry Bros & Rudd, Wine and Spirit Merchants
• Webster & Horsfall Group, Engineering and Energy Park

During the annual gathering, group members toured Webster & Horsfall’s manufacturing facility and recently installed permanent exhibition, celebrating 300 years of continuous innovation. The tour then led on to the wider Webster & Horsfall Group site comprising of Latch & Batchelor, AJ Wilcock; all managed by the original Horsfall family.

The tour concluded with a walk around Tyseley Energy Park, an Energy Innovation Zone featuring; a 10MW biomass power plant, the UK’s first low and zero carbon refuelling station; incubation space to support local businesses in the development of innovative energy technologies; and the University of Birmingham’s Energy Innovation Centre.

Speaking about the day, Charles Horsfall, Group Chairman said: “It was a great privilege to host a group of such distinction that shares such long histories. We have all traversed the Industrial Revolution and today we had the opportunity to build on our record of continuous innovation as together we face the challenges of the Green Industrial Revolution”.

Webster & Horsfall is celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2020 and for the last 300 years the organisation has been at the heart of Birmingham’s manufacturing industry, manufacturing the wire for the first successful Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable in 1866!

The company’s Chairman, Charles Horsfall, decided to lend the company’s support to UHB Charity to help support patients across the Queen Elizabeth, Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull Hospitals this Christmas.

Charles said:  “Sadly our 300th anniversary year undoubtedly will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. But in this year of tragedy and trauma the NHS has proved a beacon of compassion the like of which makes Great Britain great. I am immensely pleased to represent our company here today and support the fantastic work of the UHB Charity.”

Laura Power, Fundraising Manager at UHB Charity, said: “Our thanks go to Charles and everyone at Webster & Horsfall for their generous sponsorship of £1,000. Each year we rely on donations to bring Christmas to our hospitals by providing hampers for our staff to enjoy on Christmas Day, decorate our hospitals with beautiful trees, and provide toys for children being treated over the festive period.

“This Christmas will be a difficult one for our patients, as they may not be able to receive a visit from their loved ones, and our staff are coping with the second wave of coronavirus patients, as well as the usual winter pressures faced by the NHS.

“We are determined to go ‘over and above’ for our staff and patients this Christmas, brightening up the hospitals spreading some Christmas cheer. This is only possible thanks to the kind donations that we receive and we are proud to have the support of Webster & Horsfall, a company with such a rich heritage in our city, as they celebrate their 300th anniversary.”

You can help to bring Christmas to UHB by making a donation, buying a packet of Christmas cards, or taking part in one of our festive events. Find out how you can get involved here.

Find out more about how Webster & Horsfall is celebrating its 300th anniversary here.

Original article can be found here

WRITTEN BY ETTIE NEIL-GALLACHER

Since its establishment in 1720, Webster & Horsfall, based in Hay Mills, has been developing wire and wire rope used in a plethora of objects, from World War II bicycles to teeth braces.

Webster & Horsfall were the first to adapt crucible steel to produce high carbon steel piano wire, invented a heat treatment process for producing high tensile wire, and, alongside fellow sister company Latch and Batchelor, invented flattened strand and locked coil mining ropes.

For Charles Horsfall, the 6th generation of Horsfall and Chairman of the business, the company has been involved in critical moments of history.

When asked what the company’s most crucial invention was, he responded: “The standout two are, the enabling of the first Transatlantic telegraph cable and patented steel wire production which dominates the world of high tensile wire today.”

Webster & Horsfall produced high tensile steel wire used in the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable, running under the Atlantic Ocean and enabling faster communication between North America and Europe in 1866.

Mr Horsfall is clear that the firm’s inventions have made a huge mark across the world.

He said: “I believe that Webster & Horsfall has impacted hugely on local and global history, both in wire production development and resulting products which powered the Industrial Revolution and is still a dominant force in modern life.”

Webster & Horsfall’s locked coil wire rope, through their Latch & Batchelor brand, was used in the construction of the Warragamba Dam in Sydney, Australia, and the company also manufactured 80,000 miles of wire used in anti-submarine netting, aircraft and balloon cables in the First World War.

A display of the firm’s wire innovations and history is on show at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, with the exhibition open until 4 October 2020.

Former Webster & Horsfall employee and retired businessman, Sandy Robertson, alongside Birmingham City Council, has been archiving Webster & Horsfall’s avalanche of documents, papers, photographs, drawings and letters which are included in the exhibition.

Reflecting on what he has learnt after spending years archiving Webster & Horsfall’s long and illustrious past, Sandy said: “The great thing about the history of this company is innovation and it has been like that since it started.

“During the 18^th century in Birmingham there was a lot of innovation, driven by most of the people who were running businesses.

“John Webster, who founded the company, was very much an innovator and he wanted to take control of the production processes used to create the iron goods he was selling.

“In amidst the major developments of the steel industry, you found the Websters very much at the forefront.

“The innovations that this company was responsible for enabled the combustion engine, aeroplane flights and even space travel. All of this needed a very special quality of wire.”

Webster & Horsfall’s current innovative project is Tyseley Energy Park (TEP), developed in association with the University of Birmingham.

The park produces renewable electricity from a waste wood biomass plant and aims to drive further industrial growth in a sustainable way. The clean energy derived from the park powers Webster & Horsfall’s specialist manufacturing operation.

The energy park also includes the UK’s first low and zero carbon refuelling station. This year the University of Birmingham plans to build a £10m Energy Innovation Centre on TEP. This will provide businesses with the chance to develop their technology, and act as a centre for energy, waste and low-carbon transport system training.

Another Horsfall family member, David Horsfall, 7th generation, is responsible for developing the park.

David, director of property at TEP, said: “The park is a transitional energy pioneer developing innovative infrastructure and technology solutions to deliver renewable heat and power, energy storage solutions, clean transport fuels, and advanced waste processing to the city of Birmingham.

“Through a collaborative partnership with business, academia, government and industry, TEP is transforming infrastructure, and creating the models and solutions needed in the 21st Century.

“These solutions are helping to drive clean, green growth in Birmingham and the region, underpinning the transition to a zero carbon future and tackling key societal challenges such as energy poverty, poor air quality, electricity grid constraints and unemployment.”

This article was originally published in the April 2020 edition of Chamberlink.

Pictured: Machine 59 (1997) © Arthur Lockwood. From the Birmingham Museums Trust collection.

Original article here Greater Birmingham Chambers site

A new exhibition of paintings by renowned Birmingham artist has opened to celebrate 300 years of a family-owned firm.

The exhibition of work by Arthur Lockwood, which opened at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) on Thursday, is helping to celebrate 300 years of history for family owned firm Webster & Horsfall.

The free exhibition, which features artefacts from the company’s extensive archive alongside a display of Arthur Lockwood’s paintings of the firm, was opened by Webster and Horsfall CEO, Charles Horsfall, and historian and author, Professor Carl Chinn, MBE.

Webster & Horsfall was established in 1720 and, amongst its many achievements, was responsible for producing the wire for the first successful transatlantic cable laid in 1866.

Arthur Lockwood was renowned for capturing the industrial landscape of Birmingham and the Black Country. He documented the manufacturing heritage of the region through his paintings, which included a number of watercolours depicting the work undertaken at Webster & Horsfall’s Hay Mills factory and the people who were employed there.

“Everyone connected with Webster & Horsfall is incredibly proud of its long and distinguished history,” said Charles Horsfall.

“The firm was established just 13 years after the Act of Union led to the establishment of the United Kingdom and its work has been at the heart of manufacturing in the region, and indeed the world, ever since.

“Arthur Lockwood’s paintings beautifully capture the essence of Webster & Horsfall and the people who have helped to make it such a success. This exhibition is a fitting tribute to everyone involved with the company as we look back on 300 years of our history.”

Birmingham Museums acquired more than 700 watercolours and sketches from Arthur Lockwood as part of the Lottery-funded Collecting Birmingham project. This exhibition is the first time his paintings have been on display at BMAG and are part of a celebration of Lockwood’s work, following his death in 2019.

Professor Carl Chinn MBE said: “Webster & Horsfall is still innovating 300 years on and this exhibition celebrates the skill, ingenuity and adaptability of this world-class Birmingham manufacturer. It also recognises the dedicated workers, who Arthur Lockwood captured so vividly in his paintings. I can think of no more fitting place to host this exhibition than Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.”

Objects from Birmingham’s science and industry collection will delve further into Birmingham’s industrial past as part of the exhibition. Visitors will also see examples of the transatlantic cable, made from Webster and Horsfall wire, which revolutionised communication between the UK and the USA.

Webster & Horsfall products can be found as component parts of just about every item manufactured in Birmingham in the 18th and 19th centuries, from bike seats to paper clips, cables to steam engines. Webster & Horsfall is woven through the fabric of Birmingham’s manufacturing history.

Webster and Horsfall: 300 years of Innovation runs at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 30 January – 4 October 2020.

Find out more about the exhibition at birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/whats-on/webster-and-horsfall-300-years-of-innovation.

Original article – Express & Star

The free exhibition runs from Thursday 30 January to Sunday 4 October, and features artefacts from the company’s extensive archive alongside a display of Arthur Lockwood’s paintings of the firm. It was opened by Webster and Horsfall CEO, Charles Horsfall, and historian and author, Professor Carl Chinn, MBE.

Webster & Horsfall was established in 1720 and, amongst its many achievements, was responsible for producing the wire for the first successful transatlantic cable laid in 1866.

Arthur Lockwood was renowned for capturing the industrial landscape of Birmingham and the Black Country. He documented the manufacturing heritage of the region through his paintings, which included a number of watercolours depicting the work undertaken at Webster & Horsfall’s Hay Mills factory and the people who were employed there.

“Everyone connected with Webster & Horsfall is incredibly proud of its long and distinguished history,” commented Charles Horsfall. “The firm was established just thirteen years after the Act of Union led to the establishment of the United Kingdom and its work has been at the heart of manufacturing in the region, and indeed the world, ever since.

“Arthur Lockwood’s paintings beautifully capture the essence of Webster & Horsfall and the people who have helped to make it such a success. This exhibition is a fitting tribute to everyone involved with the company as we look back on 300 years of our history.”

Birmingham Museums acquired over 700 watercolours and sketches from Arthur Lockwood as part of the Lottery-funded Collecting Birmingham project. This exhibition is the first time his paintings have been on display at BMAG and are part of a celebration of Lockwood’s work, following his death in 2019.

Professor Carl Chinn MBE said: “Webster & Horsfall is still innovating 300 years on and this exhibition celebrates the skill, ingenuity and adaptability of this world-class Birmingham manufacturer. It also recognises the dedicated workers, who Arthur Lockwood captured so vividly in his paintings. I can think of no more fitting place to host this exhibition than Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.”

Objects from Birmingham’s science and industry collection will delve further into Birmingham’s industrial past as part of the exhibition. Visitors will also see examples of the transatlantic cable, made from Webster and Horsfall wire, which revolutionised communication between the UK and the USA.

Webster & Horsfall products can be found as component parts of just about every item manufactured in Birmingham in the 18th and 19th centuries, from bike seats to paper clips, cables to steam engines. Webster & Horsfall is woven through the fabric of Birmingham’s manufacturing history.

Webster & Horsfall: 300 years of Innovation runs at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 30 January – 4 October 2020.

Find out more about the exhibition at birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/whats-on/webster-and-horsfall-300-years-of-innovation.

Article can be found here Birminghams What’s On

Webster & Horsfall was established in 1720 and, amongst its many achievements, was responsible for producing the wire for the first successful transatlantic cable laid in 1866.

Arthur Lockwood was renowned for capturing the industrial landscape of Birmingham and the Black Country. He documented the manufacturing heritage of the region through his paintings, which included a number of watercolours depicting the work undertaken at Webster & Horsfall’s Hay Mills factory and the people who were employed there.

“Everyone connected with Webster & Horsfall is incredibly proud of its long and distinguished history,” commented Charles Horsfall. “The firm was established just thirteen years after the Act of Union led to the establishment of the United Kingdom and its work has been at the heart of manufacturing in the region, and indeed the world, ever since.

“Arthur Lockwood’s paintings beautifully capture the essence of Webster & Horsfall and the people who have helped to make it such a success. This exhibition is a fitting tribute to everyone involved with the company as we look back on 300 years of our history.”

Birmingham Museums acquired over 700 watercolours and sketches from Arthur Lockwood as part of the Lottery-funded Collecting Birmingham project. This exhibition is the first time his paintings have been on display at BMAG and are part of a celebration of Lockwood’s work, following his death in 2019.

Webster & Horsfall CEO, Charles Horsfall, and Professor Carl Chinn, MBE (1).jpg
Professor Carl Chinn MBE said: “Webster & Horsfall is still innovating 300 years on and this exhibition celebrates the skill, ingenuity and adaptability of this world-class Birmingham manufacturer. It also recognises the dedicated workers, who Arthur Lockwood captured so vividly in his paintings. I can think of no more fitting place to host this exhibition than Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.”

Objects from Birmingham’s science and industry collection will delve further into Birmingham’s industrial past as part of the exhibition. Visitors will also see examples of the transatlantic cable, made from Webster and Horsfall wire, which revolutionised communication between the UK and the USA.

Webster & Horsfall products can be found as component parts of just about every item manufactured in Birmingham in the 18th and 19th centuries, from bike seats to paper clips, cables to steam engines. Webster & Horsfall is woven through the fabric of Birmingham’s manufacturing history.

Webster & Horsfall: 300 years of Innovation runs at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 30 January – 4 October 2020.

Find out more about the exhibition at www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/whats-on/webster-and-horsfall-300-years-of-innovation.

As published Brumpic

Webster and Horsfall’s contribution to the history of wire and wire rope manufacture cannot be overstated, given that 2020 marks its 300th anniversary. It’s a staggering record in modern industrial terms, and one that will be celebrated with a gala dinner on current managing director Charles Horsfall’s 65th birthday, July 24.

“It’s a coincidence that the dinner will be on the same day, but it’ll be a bigger birthday party than I’m used to,” laughed Charles (pictured), who has worked in the still-family-owned company since the early 1970s.

It’s going to be quite a year for one of Birmingham’s oldest industrial institutions: from February 2020 until the end of September, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery will display an exhibition, Webster and Horsfall: 300 years of innovation; the gala dinner will be held in the Great Hall of the University of Birmingham, and there are plans to create a mobile exhibition on the history and heritage of the Hay Mills site for community groups and schools.

The company also hopes a permanent museum, with a strong online presence, will link the story with partner company Kiswire’s museum in Busan, South Korea, where some of the organisation’s historic machinery is already on display. It will be a fitting anniversary for a business that has made a notable impact on world industry.

Webster and Horsfall (W&H) is remarkable by any standard: one of its innovations was to adopt the use of the “new” steam power in the early 18th Century – and neatly, the company continues to innovate in the energy field.

Webster and Horsfall can claim to have invented modern wire and wire rope manufacture as we know it. Its products have influenced a remarkable diversity of engineering accomplishments throughout the developing industrial world since the Industrial Revolution, and its history embodies British manufacturing so fully that some of its archives have been recorded by the British Historical Manuscripts Commission and held by the Birmingham Wolfson Centre.

Over three centuries the company’s developments have marked major landmarks in UK, indeed world, history. It is not an overstatement to say that W&H’s manufacturing processes and products were central to the growth of the Industrial Revolution; its history covers that of transport from the horse to the aeroplane and of armaments from the sword to the missile.

Webster and Horsfall produced the finest music wire available in the age of Mozart; it made (main picture, top) the 1,600 tons of armour wire laid by Brunel’s Great Eastern (right) for the first successful communications cable between the UK and America in 1866, and in the 20th century it developed the “locked coil” wire rope, invented by one of its partners and adopted around the globe for its strength and durability, particularly in mining.

Webster and Horsfall is also a clear demonstrator of the ever-increasing efficiency of the industry: “When I came here in the early Seventies, around 275 people worked in 10 acres of covered workshops across the site, producing 10,000 tonnes of wire a year. A third of that went to wire rope and the remainder was for the spring industry,” said Charles. “Today, with around 35 people, we handle about 4,000 tonnes of wire and wire rope in just four acres of manufacturing and storage areas.

“That translates into 36 tonnes per head in 1970 – and 114 tonnes per head this year, in a quarter of the space.”

The smaller, more efficient business currently supplies specialised wires for many applications (even including dental orthodontic wire for teeth correction), and thanks to major investment now has greater production flexibility.

The company is today involved in more than 5,000 product lines – many its own, some distributed on behalf of other makers, and some made by other respected companies and supplied under the W&H name after specialist redrawing or other processes.

Past times                                                                                                            

John Webster and his first partner, John Turton, got together in 1718 and had turned to wire production in 1720, hence the forthcoming anniversary.

A generation later, Webster’s son Joseph acquired a lease on a mill north-east of Birmingham in 1752, where one of his top products was high quality piano wire – additives to which over the decades gave his products greater strength and a competitive edge.

By the mid-1800s the competitors included James Horsfall (right, in his fifties), who had been in business as a wire manufacturer at Hay Mills for several years. Horsfall’s own patent for wire treatment led to the two companies merging in 1855.

The new company flourished, moving into one site at Hay Mills, south west of Birmingham centre on the Coventry Road, in 1859, where it has been ever since.

When the last Webster died in 1860, Horsfall became the sole proprietor, and his descendants remain in control of the company today. Managing director Charles is the family’s fifth generation in charge, with a board of managers and shareholders from within the sixth generation of the Horsfall family.

“It’s very much a family business, and always has been,” he said, acknowledging that one of Webster and Horsfall’s great strengths over the decades has been the family-like closeness between bosses and workers and with the wider community around the 16-acre site. Decades ago, the company built the local parish church (St Cyprian’s, pictured), at the main gate of the site, and is still involved in community matters.

“We have always been the anchor business in this part of Birmingham, even though in modern terms we are quite small,” he explained.

“At our peak in the war years we had around 1,000 workers, but the numbers have gone up and down over the years – we have probably averaged about 250-300 – and today there are only a few dozen.

“This part of Birmingham is far different than it was even in the early Seventies. But we are keen to grow and improve local employment, and have fairly high hopes of doing so as we reorganise and improve the efficiency of our company over the next couple of years.”

The key to W&H’s longevity has been its ability not to overstretch during good times and to shrug-off adversity in the worst. Well-placed mergers and acquisitions over the centuries have helped to keep the company active.

Big blows, like the loss of the UK deep mining industry, had a profound effect on the company. The death of UK mining killed a full third of W&H’s business. In 1885 the firm’s merger with wire rope makers Arthur Latch and Telford Batchelor had led to the latter’s “locked-coil” wire rope design revolutionising deep mining, and it remains the industry standard to the present day, so when UK mining disappeared, so did a huge W&H market.

True to form, the company moved on and production increasingly turned to specialist products for markets including crane ropes, stainless steel wires and wire rope, and wire for the oil and gas industry.

Webster and Horsfall had earlier been one of the first firms to come under direct government control during the two world wars.

During 1914-1918, Hay Mills was the sole manufacturer of munitions fuse spring wire (producing over 80,000 miles of it), as well as helping to develop anti-submarine netting, mine, aircraft and balloon cables. Its strategic importance in World War II led to it being bombed several times by the Luftwaffe. The main crane in the rope mill still has a kink in its rails, caused by track misalignment from one particularly effective raid. 

The 1,000 wartime employees made a huge, largely unrecognised contribution to the war effort, but even this didn’t stop the company almost going under in the post-war period, when workers had to be made redundant and talk of nationalisation depressed output.

Again, W&H bounced back, setting up a plant in Canada that ran until 1990, and growing its production of spring wire for automotive, aeronautical and pharmaceutical industries, which remains a major percentage of output today.

In 1955 the threat of nationalisation led the two Hay Mills-based companies to be separated. Latch and Batchelor became a subsidiary of the main company and today, at only 135 years old, with partners Kiswire of Korea and

Verope AG, makes specialist ropes for worldwide sales and distributes a wide range of lifting ropes and attachments in the UK and Ireland. One of L&B’s biggest projects was supplying the 78mm locked-coil wire rope for the Warragamba Dam, near Sydney in Australia. The dam is one of the largest domestic water supply dams in the world, four times the size of Sydney harbour and storing 80 percent of the city’s needs. The dam opened in 1960 – and still uses the original rope.

Present and Future

In the 21st Century, W&H has continued to invest in its core business and has moved into others. Wire production capacity has been made more efficient with the purchase of state-of-the-art drawing machines (such as the 10-hole model pictured below) and as a small, expert company, it can produce the small quantities of wire and cable often too complex or specialist for international competitors, for whom several miles of cable might be a minimum order.

What W&H has is expertise and space, so the company keeps a stock of hundreds of tonnes of specialist wires for redrawing and reprocessing to customer specification, acting also as a major wire distributor with the help of a vast stock control system.

But core business consolidation made it obvious that the company didn’t need the entire Hay Mills site to continue production, so when Birmingham University came calling, Charles and his team didn’t need much persuading to embark on a bold new business project.

This period of evolution emerged as Tyseley Energy Park, which covers five innovative phases of regeneration and in some ways could set the standard for future UK industrial energy supply.

The university had been researching clean energy methods and came to Webster and Horsfall for help in establishing a pilot project.

“We were extremely enthusiastic from the start – but I’ll admit we had a little initial trepidation at the thought of stepping out of our comfort zone of wire manufacture,” Charles revealed

But what resulted was a bold plan to redevelop 10 acres of the site as a clean energy hub.

In 2009 the company’s park masterplan was approved, and in 2013 phase one was agreed: a £47 million investment by Cogen and other partners to develop a 10MW – enough to power around 17,000 homes – waste wood biomass power plant (pictured below).

This facility, completed in 2016, now supplies the company’s manufacturing operations – and those of its tenants across the site – with renewable electricity at a significantly lower cost than the grid price.

In so doing, the plant has created 19 new jobs, and each year diverts 72,000 tonnes of waste wood from landfill.

Three years ago, phase two of the plan, for the UK’s first low- and zero-carbon refuelling station, was approved, for the supply of public and commercial vehicles of a range of low- and zero-carbon fuels – including hydrogen, an electric vehicle charging hub, compressed natural gas and biodiesels – to help reduce emissions.

Expansion for the next generation of waste reprocessing technologies is being developed in phase three of the project, which will supply clean energy to a wider grid.

Phase four covers the development of the University of Birmingham’s innovation hub, starting with research facilities looking into thermal energy storage, materials, fuel cells and thermo-catalytic re-forming.

The hub will also have facilities to support teaching and business development.

Phase five sees existing industrial units on the site being transformed into a business incubation hub. This will support the commercialisation of emerging recycling, energy generation and storage technologies.

It’s a startling change of direction for the company, one that harbours well for its future – not that the business that has occupied directors for the past 300 years has been put on a back-burner.

“The need for wire and wire rope isn’t going away and remains our core concern – indeed we can see us going back to 24-hour operations in time. There’s plenty of scope for development.” explained Charles.

“We will be growing that business by adding value to our products and we are hoping to push our employee number to over 100 in the next 18 months.

“But the new project is immensely exciting, with possibilities for supplying fleets and companies beyond our site.

“The possibilities of this new direction are enormous, though being a family firm it has been very difficult to have to lose good people in the face of such massive change.

“People ask me if I feel the weight of all that business and family history.

“I say no – at least not any longer, because we are doing exactly what my ancestors would have done; seeing a great opportunity that demands total commitment.

“Then the family motto kicks in: ‘Incepta persequor’ – Finish what you start.”

Archives and Heritage

In collaboration with Birmingham City Council Archives and the Heritage Department, the Hay Mills Foundation Trust is conducting detailed research into W&H’s 300-year history. Volunteers are working with the company archivist, Sandy Robertson, to record the impact of the company on the people who worked there and on the wider Birmingham area. It will also detail the lasting global legacy the company has left on the industrial world.

Over the past 170 years W&H has been a major employer in Birmingham’s Tyseley and Hay Mills areas, and has played a key role in the development of local infrastructure, including construction of the area’s first school, St Cyprians Church, in 1854, a Memorial Hall, and several homes.

“We don’t see this just as a part of our history,” said Charles Horsfall. “We and the energy park are continuing the community tradition by working with the local community and local businesses to support the regeneration of this part of Birmingham.”

Originally printed in Wire and Cable News.

Europe is the star for Britain’s fastest-growing small exporters, according to research from Fast Track. The second annual Sunday Times Heathrow SME Export Track 100 finds that 80 of the featured small and medium-sized enterprises cite Europe as a main overseas market.

This shows the importance of the trading bloc for British exporters ahead of the European referendum on June 23, as well as the business opportunities that exist on the Continent despite recent sluggish economic growth.

North America is the second most popular market for the fast-growing SMEs, with 71 focusing on the region, followed by 45 that cite Asia as a main market.

By country, the US is a main source of sales for two-thirds of the businesses, followed by Germany (27), Australia (25), France (21) and China (19).

The league table measures average annual international sales growth over the past two years; figures range from 33% for the business in 100th place to 357% for the top-ranked company, Black Swan Data, a developer of analytical software — and there has been a significant rise in the number of companies turning to outside investors to help fund this growth. Venture capital and private equity firms, as well as business angels, back almost a third of the companies, up from 231ast year. London-based software firm HighQ (No 32), for example, raised $50m (E35m) in January from investors including Goldman Sachs Private Capital to help expand overseas and diversify from the legal sector into financial services.

Official figures released last week show that in the fast quarter of this year the UK’s trade deficit was at its highest level since 2008. However, the pace of over-seas growth achieved by the companies in the league table is higher than last year exports increased by an annual average of 84%, up from 73%. Almost a quarter of the 100 companies achieved triple-digit growth, compared with 14 last year. The 100 businesses have increased total sales from £787m to £1.3bn in two years, with most of that down to the E438m rise in international sales.

Some of the companies have been trading for a long time, such as Birmingham-based Webster & Horsfall (No61), which was founded in 1720 and made the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866. It is still owned by the Horsfall family and now works with partners such as Birmingham University to develop its wire technologies for on and gas, pharmaceutical and automotive industries.

Please see full article here Fast Track

We have achieved position 61 out of top Export Track 100.