Oregon Timber Frame Ltd has released its trading results for the year to 31st December 2016.
Turnover for the year at £21.7m was up 7% on the record turnover in 2015 and pretax profit was maintained at £1.9m despite the adverse effect of Sterling’s depreciation following the Brexit referendum.
The current year’s profit is being affected by significant material price increases, but sales continue to be strong.
Joint Managing Director, Kenny Dunkley commented:
“The Company has increased its orderbook and has also expanded its client base during the current year. Housing demand remains positive but resources on site are increasingly scarce. This is an industry-wide issue and in order to help address this, we have been the first Company in the UK to recruit and train timber frame erector apprentices in conjunction with CITB and South Lanarkshire College. There are currently 7 apprentices out of a total workforce of 138.”
The recent appointment of Neil Fitzsimmons is expected to strengthen the strategic development of the Company as it plans controlled growth while seeking to maintain dependable service levels to clients.
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The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Neil Fitzsimmons as a non-executive director to help the Board develop its growth strategy, particularly in England, and to provide a high-level appreciation of its housing developer customers and the market they operate in. Neil was formerly CEO of Avant plc, where he carried out a major restructuring, and before that was CEO of Redrow plc. He is a non-executive director of the Home Builders Federation, the leading industry trade representative body in England and Wales.
Our Timber Frame Erect Apprentices are about to embark on the 2nd year of their two year apprenticeship at South Lanarkshire College. Excellent feedback has been
received from both College and Students and they continue to learn the fundamental skills required during the erect process on site. They have gained a wealth of on-site practical experience and this is endorsed through their College placements and regular CITB reviews.
By September 2018 Oregon and South Lanarkshire College will be the first Company and College to deliver the UK approved timber frame erection qualification and we believe this Apprenticeship is fundamental in our aims to strengthen the knowledge and skills on site, for the Timber Frame Industry.
As one of the leading timber frame manufacturers to the UK’s major house builders we are dedicated in providing our customers with a first class experience. To maintain our excellent service levels we have embarked on a Business Improvement journey with the expert guidance of Lucy Buchanan MA (Hons) MCIBS.
In the first 2 months of 2017, we undertook workshops with our people to determine what they thought were the main improvement areas within our business. In order to address these we are training all of our people in the fundamental skills of business improvement. Moving forward, we want everyone to think about continually improving the way we do our job and take responsibility for implementing change.
We are about to start working on the areas identified through the application of the Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to establish a real culture of continuous improvement within Oregon. We believe this will have powerful effects to improve our people engagement, take ownership, become more customer focused and deliver even better timber frame solutions to the house building industry.
Modern Apprenticeship in Timber Frame Erection
2017 National Apprenticeship Week is due to take place between 06-10 March 2017. Oregon in association with South Lanarkshire College will continue to promote the new Modern Apprenticeship in Timber Frame Erection at their Campus in East Kilbride and lead the way for increasing skills within the Timber Frame Industry. During 2016 five apprentices have completed two College blocks, at South Lanarkshire College where they have learnt a wealth of timber frame methods and this coupled with their hands-on practical experience on site is contributing to the success of this apprenticeship. Going forward, Oregon are fully committed to increasing the skills in the Industry.
Modern Apprenticeship in Timber Frame Manufacturing
Borders College in association with Oregon Timber, Structural Timber Association, Construction Industry Training Board, Skills Development Scotland and Edinburgh’s Napier University have developed a brand new Modern Apprenticeship in Timber Frame Manufacturing. This MA has been developed to fill a training gap in the industry, allowing for the first time new recruits and in the future up-skilling of the current workforce at Oregon Timber (and other TFM’s) to gain a recognised national qualification in timber frame manufacturing. The final chapter in the process to delivering the qualification was sealed on Friday when the College met with Tammy Yourston from Oregon Timber during an ‘approvals’ panel meeting. Tammy remarked during the meeting “It’s really exciting to finally see this qualification being realised, the industry has had a need for this for a long time.” It is hoped that training will begin sometime soon, with facilities being shared between the College and new premises at Oregon Timber in Selkirk.
Oregon are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted again as a finalist for “Subcontractor of the Year Award 2016” the title they won last year at the 2015 Housebuilder Awards. Elaine Wilson “Director of Sales & Marketing commented.
“It was fantastic to win this award last year and to be shortlisted again this year is a continuing testament to the commitment we have as a company to innovation, excellence and customer service, everyone at Oregon is extremely proud to be recognised again in these ‘Industry Oscars’. Our customers contribution by providing excellent testimonials are very much appreciated and vital to our continuing success in these awards. We very much look forward to the awards ceremony in London in November”
We are proud to be the timber frame provider on the Dawn Homes development at Annick Gardens, Perceton National winner of the NHBC Health & Safety Best Site Award in the Medium Builder Category. Many congratulations to Dawn Homes and Derek Biggans, site manager, a huge achievement and well deserved.
Oregon are delighted to announce that they are supplying and erecting structural timber frame on 11 out of the 39 Scottish sites awarded NHBC Pride in the Job Awards Scotland 2016 – Quality Awards some of which are repeat winners. Oregon Construction Director, George McKinlay commented “We are very proud to be associated with these sites and the close working relationships and trust our Contract Management Team and Health & Safety Group Manager have built up over the years with our house builder customers. We would like to congratulate all 11 site managers on their hard work and well deserved awards”.
Leading timber frame designer, manufacturer and erector Oregon Timber Frame Ltd has been named Subcontractor of the Year 2015 in this year’s Housebuilder Awards. Entrants from across the UK had to demonstrate their excellence in areas including health and safety, quality, timeliness, value for money, training, communication and sustainability.
Director of Sales and Marketing Elaine Wilson, who received the Award on behalf of the company, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have won the Subcontractor of the Year Award from Housebuilder magazine and their expert panel of industry judges. It’s a testament to the commitment we have as a company to innovation, excellence and customer service, and everyone in Oregon is extremely proud to be recognized in these ‘Industry Oscars’.”
Ms Wilson concluded:
“We are also extremely proud of the superb testimonials we were able to include in our entry, and are grateful to all our customers for their contribution to our success in these prestigious Awards.”
