Stairways Group remains upbeat about future business prospects despite having to make 20 redundancies at its Walsall factory due to the stuttering housing sector.

Joint managing director Karen Wood said the privately-funded company, which makes staircases, doorsets and door kits, had a strong order book and had recently achieved the ISO 9001/2 quality standard as well as FSC and PEFC chain of custody certification. Stairways’ website is also being relaunched in September.

“In an effort to preserve the future of the factory and safeguard as many jobs as possible, we have had to reduce the number of staff we have,” she said. “By making changes now we have left ourselves in a stronger position for the future.”

She said Stairways was working on “a number of new contracts with companies” and had diversified to reduce reliance on housebuilders. The company, which employs 125 people, also has sites in Leamington Spa and Welshpool.