It came as a bit of a surprise to learn that the largest European export market for Darlington-based Amdega – the oldest manufacturer of handmade timber conservatories in the world – is Turkey!

But the very ‘Englishness’ of an Amdega conservatory has made it a ‘must have’ for many of the world’s rich and famous – and the company is rapidly expanding a lucrative export market which now accounts for 25% of its business.

Amdega began life as W Richardson of Darlington in 1874. As engineers, the company started off making plant houses – many for botanical gardens – and its private clients included many members of the British aristocracy.

During the war the company turned its hand to wooden parts for aeroplanes and yachts. Then, in the early 1970s the company was bought out and became Amdega – which stands for ambition, determination and gain – and trail-blazed the way for the Victorian-style conservatory.

In another buyout by Derbyshire-based Williams Holdings, Amdega joined the ‘home improvement’ sector alongside the likes of upmarket Smallbone Kitchens.

Amdega marketing director Aidan Jackson explained: ‘The aim was to make them 1980s boom companies on the back of all the wealth that was around at the time – but it didn’t really happen for Amdega. It became a bit of a forgotten child until there was a management buyout in 1997.

‘We had this great brand, an established manufacturing facility and a bastion of skilled craftsmen – but the company had been under-performing financially and had under-invested in key areas such as marketing, sales, plant and machinery.

‘The workforce was ageing and there was a lack of focus and direction which had led to a decline in sales. At the time, turnover was £11.9m and there were 209 employees on site.’

One of the first things to be addressed was marketing. The product was excellent but needed nurturing. Mr Jackson said previous advertising had been ‘small pictures of naff looking conservatories on big houses’.

He went on: ‘We took the emphasis away from the size of the house and made the conservatories look more accessible, affordable and aspirational. We only advertised in magazines that we knew worked and stopped the scatter-gun approach.’

Eighty per cent of the company’s UK business is in the south-east, but it has no shops or showrooms, relying instead on magazine coverage and reputation.

The average order value for an Amdega conservatory is £20,000 in the UK – taking it up to about £32,000 as a build project – and they can go up to £100,000.

‘It is a considered purchase which offers solutions,’ said Mr Jackson. ‘We don’t have "a range" of conservatories as each one is different.’

Canadian timber

All the timber is imported from Canada and is engineered to whatever regulations are required by different countries. Mr Jackson said: ‘In the US, legislation can vary from state to state and we have to design and build for snow in Canada, earthquakes in Turkey and so on.

‘We used to export a British product that was sold abroad. Now we develop, market and sell an international product.’

A new website has done a lot for the globalisation of the brand and the company believes it has only hit the tip of the export iceberg. The year end turnover result is expected to rise from £18.2m last year to between £22-23m this year and staff numbers are up to 340 people on the 27,000m² site, making Amdega a major employer in the area.

Canadian cedar is used in the production process – mainly for its rot resistant properties. The timber comes into the yard in 3in or 4in nominal thicknesses up to 12in wide and 20ft long and it is all re-graded on arrival.

It is processed through the first milling shed to take out any defects and taken down to basic component sizes before being kiln dried in one of the company’s four kilns, two of which were installed 12 months ago. Each kiln can take 12 standards.

Manufacturing director Andrew Tyas said: ‘We do about 15 standards of timber a week. We always have about 100 standards at the dockside as, in terms of lead time, we have to order timber 12-16 weeks out. That gives us sufficient leeway – about a month – in terms of docking vessels.’

Most of the machines are fairly traditional – ranging from spindle moulders and double end tenoners to mortice machines – and the company is looking at a significant investment programme in CNC machining.

Production

Mr Tyas said: ‘There are two sides to the production – one where we make common lengths and moulded product which are going to be cut down to components, and the other which specialises in making elements for the roof, for instance, which has to have a special pitch to fit the building it is going on to. Those parts are unique to each property, and we have about 250 individual moulding profiles.’

Once components have been manufactured they are passed to the joiners – Amdega employs about 50, several of whom are apprentices on the shop floor. In the machine shop all the joints, cuts and angles are marked out and cut out by machine before being cut out properly by hand. Some of the offcuts are turned into shingles for the roofs of summerhouses.

The work is labour intensive – for instance a lot of hand sanding is done in between each process to ensure a true quality finish. As business has grown so has the workforce: more than 150 jobs have been created in the last three years, 80 of which were in the past 12 months.

Output

Between 25-30 conservatories are made each week and an average size – 3.5×4.5m – would require 2m³ of timber. From final production drawings to the finished product in the warehouse is normally a four to five week cycle.

All the roofs are assembled in the factory to ensure they are exactly according to the drawings – then disassembled for painting or staining.

Mr Tyas said: ‘We use a two-pack primer which is particularly important on cedar as it has a lot of tannins in it. The number of coats of gloss depends on the ultimate destination of the conservatory.’

The past 12 months has seen a £400,000 investment in the new kilns, an optimising saw, and in the paint shop and despatch area. ‘Less than two years ago our manufacturing capacity was worth around £15m – now it is about £27m with room for growth,’ said Mr Tyas.

‘We are looking at a significant investment later this year in people, plant and machinery and we will continue to invest’ added Mr Jackson.

‘From a business point of view there is still a lot out there, especially overseas where we are just scratching the surface.’