H W Joinery Projects, based at Meltham Mills, collapsed in July 2016 with the loss of 18 jobs after being hit by substantial bad debt.
Now a long-term customer of the collapsed firm has bought the assets of the business and created H W Specialist Joinery Ltd at the same premises on Meltham Mills Industrial Estate.
Essex-based Phelan Construction Ltd also pledged to invest in the new company by installing new equipment and setting up a training academy to secure its long-term future. It has also developed a business plan, setting targets to turn H W Specialist Joinery into a £5m to £10m turnover company in the next three years.
The new company is headed by husband and wife Andy and Jane Mundy, who are directors oh H W Joinery Projects Ltd. Mrs Mundy said the new firm already has a 13-strong team and is looking to recruit at least five to ten additional joiners by the end of this year. She said it had been hoped to re-engage all the employees of H W Joinery Projects Ltd, but several of them had already found alternative work. She said: “It was one of the worst times of my life and certainly not something I would like to go through again. But something good has come out of it.”
Mrs Mundy said:
“We were working on a large casino project in Leeds at the time of the administration and the customer has come in and bought the assets, employed my husband and I and the same management team as well as some of the joiners. They want us to be the best joinery company we can be. Their vision is for us to be a £5m-turnover-company in three years. We have got an awful lot of support from the construction company. It’s an exciting time and we have significant opportunities. It has rubbed off onto the staff who are really excited about prospects going forward.”
H W Joinery Ltd, based at Meltham Mills Industrial Estate carried out projects for shops, bars and hotels as well as private clients. Administrators were called in after the firm’s directors decided to close the company as a direct result of a large main contractor disputing a significant debt.
Kieran Phelan, Managing Director of Phelan Construction Ltd, said it was “unfortunate that others failed to treat H W with the respect required in terms of general trading” which had caused them some business difficulties.
He said:
“We are very pleased to be able to invest in a new H W which I believe will be a fantastic joinery business by the time we have a finished developing it. It will produce some wonderful employment opportunities for established joiners and also as part of our local H W training academy, which will look to take on three apprentices a year from local schools. There is no shortage of opportunities. There are some great people there – great management and great people on the shop floor. They just need the right business partner and we have no doubt we will make a success of it.”