Profile: David Armitage

It might not be Dolce and Gabbana or McQueen but the construction industry is still subject to the fickle world of fashion.

Bricks have given way to steel and glass in recent years but they now appear to be making a bit of a comeback, albeit with a new design, as architects look for the next building material to work with.

It is good news for David Armitage, chairman of bespoke brick manufacturer York Handmade Brick Company.

During a career spanning 50 years, Armitage, who celebrates his 72nd birthday next week, has been through a number of these cycles as bricks fall in and out of favour.

“It is a fashion industry but fashion has been against us and bricks were considered old hat for a while.” Armitage says. “That seems to be changing now.”

His cosy office at York Handmade’s headquarters, based at Alne, near Easingwold, is filled with photos and other memorabilia from a long and varied career, which has charted the ups and downs of the construction industry.

However, the company, which previously relied on one-off housing and home improvement work, has now moved into a new era. Up to 30 per cent of its work is currently non-housing, including schools and offices.

“We realised after 2009/2010 that finance was becoming much more difficult for housing and there was also a lack of confidence,” says Armitage.

A turning point for the company was taking the decision to embrace a new type of brick, longer and thinner than standard bricks, which it calls the Maxima. “We’re finding there is a real architectural interest in brick work again,” says Armitage.

Developing the Maxima range led the company to land the biggest, and most complicated contract in its 23-year history – supplying 400,000 of the bricks to the new Chetham’s Music School in Manchester. The company took on seven new staff to cope with the £400,000 contract, which included manufacturing 30 different types of special bricks.

York Handmade has also supplied 70,000 bricks for three floors of the 87-storey The Shard skyscraper in London.

The company has had a tough time during the financial crisis, although Armitage says it has turned a corner in the last year. It now employs 27 staff and has a turnover of £2.2m, a figure which dropped by 30 per cent in 2009 and 2010. “We’ve gone back to where we were in 2008 and I put that down to a better product mix and a better mix of markets,” he says.

Armitage is optimistic that confidence will return to property and become a safe haven for investors again but warns that the industry needs more help from the Government. “We’re getting a lot of enquiries for central London jobs but the Government could do a bit more to help the industry. We need social housing but I don’t think that’s likely.”

As the son of a Leeds surgeon, Armitage wasn’t always destined to make bricks but he admits with brick-making ancestors stretching back to the early 19th century, it was probably in his blood.

Born during the Second World War, his mother moved Armitage and his two older sisters to the family’s weekend cottage near Helmsley, North Yorkshire, while his father stayed in Leeds.

Afterwards, the family moved to Thorner, near Leeds, and Armitage was sent to The Dragon School in Oxford. He went on to study economics and politics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada in the late 1950s. “It was quite unusual but quite a lot of my peers went at the same time,” he says.

He returned to Leeds in 1961 after graduating at the age of 21 and joined the brick industry as an apprentice fitter with the family business, George Armitage & Sons, founded by his great-great grandfather.

“I’m a fifth generation brick maker,” he says. “All the Armitage ancestors, apart from my father, were making bricks or quarrying stone. That’s why I did it – I didn’t know what else to do.”

He moved into sales in 1963, eventually becoming sales director and later marketing director when the business grew to a £20m turnover.

The old-fashioned business struggled to keep up with its modern rivals during the late 1960s when the market dipped during the rise of pre-fabricated buildings.

However, the modernisations of the company’s two factories combined with an upturn in trade in the 1970s changed the fortunes of the business. “For the first time, bricks were handled by machine, improving quality and reducing waste,” says Armitage.

In 1988, the family sold the business and Armitage bought the York Handmade Brick Company – a small niche supplier – for £500,000, which was a dramatic change from the mass market brick producer he had come from. “The company was turning over under half a million pounds and it was a complete mess,” he says. “It was quite a brave decision when I look back on it.” Through substantial investment and focusing the business on the niche markets, Armitage turned the company around. It has gone on to win a number of awards and has also supplied bricks for high profile projects, including the restoration of the iconic East Stand at Highbury Stadium, the former home of Arsenal Football Club, which is now a housing development.

Other clients include former England international Alan Shearer who used the bricks to build his home in Darras Hall, near Newcastle.

Last year, the company also designed and supplied bricks to build a vaulted wine cellar for the owner of the Forbidden Corner tourist attraction in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, which he describes as “one of the most interesting brickwork projects I’ve ever been involved in”.

His long service to the industry was recognised at the 2011 Brick Awards, organised by the Brick Development Association.

Eventually, Armitage, who has four children, plans to hand over the reins to his son, Guy, 34, but there are no plans for retirement just yet. “As long as I feel I’ve got a contribution to make I want to carry on working because I do enjoy it,” he says.

He currently lives in the village of Nun Monkton, North Yorkshire, with his second wife, Gillie. They built their home, Batman House Farm, using the company’s bricks. “It’s my pride and joy,” he says.

He is cautiously optimistic about the next year in the brick industry. “There will definitely be challenges, there always have been,” he says. “It’s a feast or famine industry but I think we have definitely turned a corner because we’ve managed to focus our market.”

As for his legacy when he eventually retires, he hopes the company will remain independent, employing local people with local management. He adds: “Our legacy is already in the buildings we’ve done.”

David Armitage Factfile

Title: Chairman of York Handmade Brick Company.

Date of birth: January 24, 1940.

Education: Winchester College and McGill University in Montreal, Canada

First job: Apprentice fitter

Favourite song: Yesterday, by The Beatles

Car driven: Jaguar XF

Favourite film: The Bridge on the River Kwai

Favourite holiday destination: West Scotland

Last book read: The Third Man, by Peter Mandelson

What I am most proud of: Everything created at The Handmade Brick Company, including creating jobs for people and some fabulous contributions to buildings.