David Davis MP welcomes the success of Jablight, bucking the trend in the construction sector

As reported in the Hull Daily Mail on 27th March 2013:

An innovative strategy has enabled an East Yorkshire manufacturing company to buck the trends in the construction sector.

Jablite creates expanded polystyrene insulation in its factory in Howden and the business has taken opportunities and developed creative products to ensure it thrives in the industry.

It is now looking towards a programme of expansion and growth.

After contracting to a degree as the recession hit, in the past three years, the business, which has another manufacturing site in Kent, has begun to grow again and Jablite’s turnover last year was just over £23m.

Sales and marketing director David Teasdale said: “We are now on the bounce back. We are financially healthy and on our way to being a lot more successful than we were five years a go.”

From its 15-acre Howden site, Jablite manufactures its insulation products for a variety of customers and has a significant involvement in the housing market. Mr Teasdale said: “A lot of manufacturing companies in this industry have struggled because the market is so depressed.

“But we are bucking the market trend without a doubt and are in expansion at the moment.

“We have seen a very positive growth year on year.”

The Government’s recently proposed Help To Buy scheme is positive news for Jablite, which employs 31 people at its Howden site.

Managing director Richard Lee said he believes this will encourage more homeowners and first-time buyers to buy a new-build home.

He said: “This, in turn, should help empty up properties for first-time buyers and create some movement in the housing market.

“Although this loan scheme does not start until 2014, I have no doubt that house builders will be gauging interest and hopefully they will be encouraged to build more new houses this year.

“And, that will certainly benefit us – as we supply floor insulation products to housebuilders. ” Mr Teasdale said he also believes the initiative is a very positive idea.

He said: “It’s a tremendous thing – it’s very imaginative and with a bit of luck, it will stimulate the bad housing market. “It will help the manufacturing industry.

There are so many industries connected to house building and it creates so much economic wealth.”

Jablite also works in the retrofit market – fitting new insulation in older properties.

Mr Teasdale said: “The new-build market may be flat but another part of the market that is growing is retrofit and we are in both parts.

“We are getting the benefits out of the growth of the retrofit market.

“One of the ways we are doing that is not by being the cheapest, but by providing the very best quality and exceeding industry regulations with our environmental standards.

“We are trying to put ourselves as a partner of choice and that has enabled us to get extra customers.”

The innovative products Jablite creates have put it at the forefront of the industry. Mr Teasdale said: “Part of our mission statement is to innovate.

“We like to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. We want to innovate, innovate, innovat e. ” Along with this positive news, Jablite, which was established in 1973, is playing a part in the Green Deal – a Government initiative designed to help business and homeowners to employ more green technologies in their properties. Mr Teasdale said: “We want to raise awareness in the area that we are a supplier of highperformance insulation and form a partnership with the Green Deal.” Mr Teasdale said there is a general acceptance that energy resources are becoming scarce and, therefore, people need to ensure they take measures to use less. He said: “This will result in oil becoming more expensive, so we have to become more efficient with these resources. “Fuel is only going one way and that is upwards, so it is a sensible thing for everybody to consider as an investment in the future of the UK.”

David Davis, MP for Haltemprice and Howden, has visited Jablite and is a supporter of the business. He said: “Jablite is an SME that has responded to the recession and a difficult marketplace by changing direction and focussing on innovation and new product development. “This strategy is bringing Jablite success and it is great to see a company like this bucking the trends in the construction sector and the economy as a whole. “SMEs are vital to the recovery of the UK economy and it is companies like Jablite that are nimble, take opportunities and develop innovative new products, that will help the country to get back on its feet.”