Products and services for UTILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, CONSTRUCTION and the ENVIRONMENT
"The core commitments to quality and integrity are also evident in supplier and customer relationships, some of which go back over fifty years"
Kevin Hancock — Corporate Development Director
The enterprise and trading culture of Bristol must have agreed with Wilfred Thomas Burden. It was from offices at Queen Square in pre-war Bristol that he initially established the south western operation of a small company specialising in the supply and distribution of civil engineering materials. Today, having adopted its founders initial's and with its headquarters in Bristol, that company has grown to be one of the leading businesses in the UK construction industry. In this brief overview we can trace some of the steps in the development of the WTB Group since its formation 70 years ago.
Occupying the sometimes delicate ground between suppliers and customers, Wilfred’s watchword was integrity. He set his company’s telephone number under the older telephone ‘letter dialling’ system as I.N.T.E.G.R.I.T.Y. The telex address was the same and integrity was a quality that Wilfred brought to all his dealings.
The original business of WT Burden, commonly referred to as Burdens, grew quite rapidly in the 1930s and by the outbreak of the Second World War it had established a yard in Birmingham and offices in London and Bristol. Throughout the war years the company still managed to flourish. The south western arm subsequently moved from its offices in Queens Square, Bristol, to a stocking branch in Brislington (now the site of McDonalds).
The south western half of the business remained at Brislington under the guidance of Managing Director Mr Martin Burton until 1955 when it moved to Culvers Road, Keynsham. It then remained there as a trading location and administration base until 1998.
Mr Burton remained as Managing Director and then Vice- Chairman of Burdens Western Ltd (as the southern half of the company was known), until he died in 1987.
A line up of early company vehicles
Mr WT Burden remained as Chairman of both halves of the company until his death in 1984. He was succeeded as Chairman by his son, Arthur, a Chartered Accountant who had only recently become involved with the business and who remains Chairman to this day. Arthur is also a trustee of the Burdens Charitable Foundation, which he helped his father establish with much of his father’s shareholding.
Whilst the Burdens family and the Charitable Foundation still control the company, Arthur was instrumental in creating far wider share ownership within the management and employee base of the company. This has lead to the establishment of one of the country’s first Inland Revenue approved Employee Share Schemes under which more than half the group’s current employees now hold a stake and which has played a major part in recent growth.
Arthur oversaw the merging of the two halves of the business into one during the late 1970s with management re-centralised in Bristol under Alan Hampton as Managing Director. Under Alan and Arthur’s guidance the company survived the worst ravages of the late seventies and early nineties recessions, and the scene was set for dramatic further expansion.
The former Chief Executive, Alan Hampton joined the firm from school and brings a thorough knowledge and commitment to the WTB enterprise, qualities which the company seeks to foster in all its employees.
Being enterprising enough stock and distribute new products has always been a hallmark of the company and has contributed greatly to its success. Alan, as a key figure in the business for over 35 years, had been chiefly responsible for this strategy.
The company were the first to stock clay drainage pipes with flexible mechanical joints introduced just after the Second World War. This innovative approach laid the foundations for the company to become the largest supplier of drainage products in the UK.
The 90's could best be described as an expansive phase for the group. It has made large investments in people, physical infrastructure, transport and IT systems. The WTB Group has now a National Distribution network with some 50 branches, and is in the top tier of its business class with a turnover approaching £400m. From the original six people employed by WT Burden the Group now employs some seven hundred.
The term ‘Specialists’ has been appropriately applied to differentiate the group within its industry sector for many years and nowhere is this more evident than in the group distribution.
Customer care and product knowledge are key elements of the WTB distribution team. The ‘heavy and dirty’ nature of many of the products that the group handle should not be overlooked and the ‘specialist’ skills and responsibilities of those drivers and distribution staff who undertake this work are a credit to the group.
In line with the groups’ core commitment to quality and safety, all Burdens branches are accredited with the prestigious BS EN ISO 9002 accreditation, and all the specialist fleet are fitted with the most advanced safety equipment available.
The core commitments to quality and integrity are also evident in supplier and customer relationships, some of which go back over fifty years. The company’s core expertise in drainage and civil engineering products gives it an innovative edge, which can be invaluable to suppliers and customers alike.
In keeping with the company’s innovative and expansive view to business, the core quality product range of clay, concrete, plastic and iron drainage products has been widened and now includes; construction chemicals, street furniture, exterior lighting and signage, ducting systems, geotechnical and pressure pipeline products. The group is also increasingly involved in the provision of specialist logistical services- principally to the deregulating utility and mulit-utility markets as they increasingly out-source distribution.
The ever present search for the quality dictates that Burdens give these products their own back office ‘technical support’, and whilst these products can be something of a mystery to people on the street, without them comfortable urban life as we know it would not exist.
Apart from the everyday uses of these products by Local Authorities, Civil Engineering Contractors, Construction Companies, Utilities, Specialist Sub-contractors and the like, the Company has also been privileged to supply materials to many high profile, and complex projects.
The company supplied geotextile products used to reclaim land for the Millennium Dome project, and then supplied specialist materials during the construction phases. The company supplied specialist materials on tight overnight delivery schedules to the Channel Tunnel and Second Severn Bridge and more recently has been involved in material supply to the Eden Project.
Aerial view of the Wellsway, Keynsham depotThe company’s ability to customise solutions and trading styles has been recognised by many high profile organisations. The Group’s existing customer base includes national and regional civil engineering and construction companies, specialist sub- contractors, public and private utilities, local authorities and builders’ merchants.
Adopting an innovative approach to the physical stock and distribution of materials and the commercial administration associated with it’s operations, the group have been pioneers in supporting the development of a pan-European on line construction hub. The aim of this is to assist construction industry participants in reducing the costs involved with the procurement of materials and sub-contracted works and the overall management of construction projects, offering clear opportunities to improve the efficiency of the construction industry supply chain.
Benefiting from a number of partnership arrangements with public utilities, and local authorities, and major contractors, Wilfred’s watchword of I.N.T.E.G.R.I.T.Y continues to bear fruit today as the WTB Group supports the UK civil engineering industry.
Having grown from a small office and yard to being a Bristol based national company, the WTB group expansion program is far from over. There are always opportunities to develop other branches, either on brown ground, or from Greenfield sites. Equally the company is prepared to invest by company acquisition. In keeping with Bristol’s history as an ‘exploration’ port, they have set sail and opened branches in Belfast and via acquisition have a significant presence in Dublin, owning the ‘specialist’ pipeline company Pipes Valves and Fittings.
As the world continues to become an ever smaller place the WTB Group are both importing and exporting materials around the globe. However the scale of the business has not detracted from the historical values and today the core values that Wilfred Thomas Burden laid down are still alive in the business and encompassed in the Group Vision:
Indeed the drive for excellence is evident throughout the organisation and covers the full extent of its activities from major employer to major supplier of drainage products to the construction industry.
Mr and Mrs WT Burden would be very proud of the commercial success that has underpinned the work of the foundation that they have created. Over the past 20 years some 800 charities have benefited from the £2.4 million that the foundation has donated. Another aim of the company is to achieve a reputation for being responsibly concerned for the well being of the local community in the area in which the company has a presence. A highlight in this area of the company’s activity came in 1997 when £30,000 was raised through sponsorship for the Three Peaks Walk- the company’s Charitable Foundation, the major shareholder in the company, was able to contribute a further £45,000, raising an extremely valuable £75,000 towards the outright purchase of a breast scanner for Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.
The Foundation also has a pro-active approach on the Third World and developing countries and has supported schemes in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, India, Nepal, Mozambique as well as maintaining a steady flow of donations to charities based in the UK.
The sheer size of the WTB group make the designation of it as a ‘family firm’ impossible; nevertheless there is a third generation member of the Burden family in a key position in the company. Today, Jeremy Burden, the grandson of the founder, is Managing Director of WT Burden.
Against the current construction industry backdrop of consolidation and rationalisation the company is very proud of its independent status believing it to be a safeguard for customer choice against restrictive practices and a foundation for further growth.
The company occupies a prominent position for the industry but no-one’s taking this for granted. It regularly exhibits at the major events in the construction industry. In this way the company profile is being raised and the range of products and extent of expertise is demonstrated to prospective clients and partners.
Though the company does not have a High Street presence, its products are used on and under the very streets we walk, and nowhere is this truer than Bristol and its surrounding areas. WTB Group will no doubt continue to make its own unique contribution to the environment around us, supplying products, which make our towns and cities both more attractive and safer to live in.
