Wakefield company cements its future

Carlton Manufacturing, a developer and manufacturer of sustainable construction materials, has cemented its future with a £400,000 Seedcorn investment from Finance Yorkshire.

Carlton produces a range of sustainable cements, mortars and concretes for construction and DIY sectors that contain a high proportion of locally sourced waste materials rather than freshly quarried new material.

Carlton moved to its new 17,000 sq ft premises on Newmillerdam Business Park in April and has expanded its workforce as a direct result of the investment.

Entrepreneur Max Smith founded the company in 2011, together with brother Guy and financial director, Chris Blaxall.

An experienced helicopter pilot, Max, realized his business idea had wings when he was flying over East Yorkshire. At 3,000ft above ground, Max said he was amazed to see the amount of potentially useful waste material stockpiled in the region. He recognized this could provide a steady supply of raw material for his innovative building products.

Max, who has an engineering background, said: “I established Carlton to develop, manufacture and market the innovative, eco-friendly building materials that the cement, concrete and building industries are looking for to meet their sustainability objectives.

“The majority of materials used to make cement and concrete are quarried raw materials – but instead we are able to replace some of these with recycled waste materials.”

Company Director Max, who has been flying for 22 years, said it took around two years to develop his business idea. He added: “In January I approached Finance Yorkshire in a bid to secure further capital to cover the cost of setting up our manufacturing base and developing new products.

“The application process was rigorous but smooth and by the end of March we had our finance in place.”

Heather Roxborough, Finance Yorkshire Investment Manager, said: “The construction industry is coming under increased pressure to use more sustainable building materials. Builders and construction workers are now actively looking for new products that will help them achieve the sustainability targets that the government and industry bodies have set.

“We recognised that Carlton has developed a suite of innovative, sustainable, cement and concrete products that have similar, if not better, performance than traditional products but are still competitive on price.

“We were delighted to be able to provide the finance required to help Carlton set up their manufacturing facility in Wakefield and bring their first products to market. Importantly, the investment will also be used to help commercialise the other sustainable building products that Carlton currently has in development.”

Chris Blaxall, Financial Director at Carlton Manufacturing, added: “Our vision now is to build a sustainable future. We want to get the Wakefield site up to full capacity by the end of the year and to continue to expand our product range.

“The market for sustainable building materials and products is growing rapidly and we’re currently developing new products that we know this market needs.

“Because we’re relatively small compared to the market leaders, we are able to work alongside partners to co-develop the sustainable building products that they’re looking for, but quickly and cost-effectively. We find that this partnering approach is working well and companies are now knocking on our door.”

Carlton has also achieved CO2 sense accreditation from the European Union.

Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15million from Yorkshire Forward’s Single Programme, and £45million match funding from the European Investment Bank.

For more information on the full product range visit http://www.carltonmanufacturing.co.uk or for Finance Yorkshire information visit www.finance-yorkshire.com or ring 0845 649 0000.

Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire