Celebrating 50 years helping shape a £70m family business

When he first started work for a small family firm in Gloucester Colin Leighton was 16 years old. Today his bosses are thanking him for helping shape a business group turning over £70m with 190 staff.

Dear readers,

A bit of a construction theme going on today ahead of Friday’s full members edition.

On Thursday the idea is I run a partial edition - a main story, perhaps one or two others, but it often morphs into a full edition. I just can’t help myself!

And often it’s paywalled to help fund what I do - to fill a vacuum and provide a journalistically-led, editorially-led digital magazine for Gloucestershire focusing on its business, charity, education and training sectors.

Monday’s edition is always open to all.

Pound for pound, that’s eyes on stories, I think Raikes already right up there - probably better read than any other operation. Which isn’t bad after less than a year.

Anyway, back to today’s email. There is some tough news for the developer that’s spent months working with Gloucester City Council on a scheme to remove the city centre’s tallest tower block, only to have councillors vote against it.

The business will be hoping it doesn’t take as long to resolve as the plans for a new football stadium for Forest Green Rovers, which we record as finally getting its go ahead below too.

For the main story it’s a simple feature we really liked from Rupert Janisch, about Colin Leighton and the 50 years he’s spent working for a niche construction firm from Gloucester. It’s a firm that today has grown into a group turning over £70 million-plus.

It’s not his business, but businesses are built on their staff - on people like Mr Leighton. Here’s to them!

Enjoy.

Andrew Merrell (editor).

NB: Raikes publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire.

If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be on, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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Plans to transform the skyline of Gloucester refused

Unexpected blow as a housing developer looking to replace a landmark Gloucester building - the city centre’s tallest tower block - with 36 much-needed new homes sees its scheme refused.

Despite months of discussions with planning officers and careful tweaking of its plans to demolish one of Gloucester’s landmark buildings, it is back to the drawing board for Gloucester City Homes.

Councillors voted against the housing association’s plans to demolish the Clapham Court tower block and replace it with 36 new dwellings after hearing that 16 residents had raised concerns over parking.

GCH, the city’s biggest provider of affordable and supported accommodation, is also the owner of the 60-year-old Kingsholm edifice, but the cost of running the building has become a serious drain on its resources.

It has been working closely with city architects Quattro Design on a scheme to replace it, which included a public consultation on what has become a high-profile project.

Guy Stenson, chief executive of Gloucester City Homes called the refusal “disappointing”, especially after “two rounds of pre-application discussions, months of discussion with officers, and a full and positive review by the Gloucestershire Design Review Panel”.

“We are pleased the planning officer recognised key benefits of the scheme, including better housing quality, improved energy efficiency, biodiversity gains, and a design that respects the conservation area,” said Stenson.

“We intend to resubmit our plans as soon as possible.”

He said the city’s need for affordable homes, especially social housing, was “more urgent than ever”.

GCH already supports approximately 12,500 customers living in around 5,000 homes.

It is also pushing to build 173 new homes in Podsmead, south of the city centre, a development up against a deadline to clear planning before the end of March 2025 after which funding for the scheme is in jeopardy.

It’s also about to open a new supported housing scheme offering a lifeline to vulnerable young people at risk of homelessness, which will also create jobs. More on this tomorrow!

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In more construction news....

Dale Vince is finally able to celebrate after the long-standing battle with Stroud District Council to win all the planning permissions necessary to build a new 5,000-seater stadium for Forest Green Rovers at Eastington, near Junction 13 of the M5. It’s a project said to involve a £100 million investment. In a double win, plans for the demolition of the football club’s New Lawn stadium in Nailsworth to build 95 homes on the 6.7-acre site, were also approved. It allows Vince, the Ecotricity energy tycoon and owner of the club, to press go on the construction of the radical all-wooden stadium, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. That the firm won the contract to design the stadium in 2016 gives you an idea of how long it’s all taken so far. The scheme includes 38,000 square metre of office space, an 18,000 sqm business park, 70-bed care home, 100-room hotel and a car park with 1,700 spaces.

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50 years helping shape a £70m family business

When he first started work for a small family firm in Gloucester, Colin Leighton was 16 years old. Today his bosses are thanking him for helping shape a business group turning over £70m with 190 staff.

By Rupert Janisch.

Colin Leighton’s 50 years of service have seen him help grow a small family business into a specialist construction firm which today is part of a significant group of companies with nearly 200 staff.

Leighton left school at 16 and worked with Gloucestershire firms in building, manufacturing and installations, before starting at P&M’s constituent operation, ISD Solutions, in 1974.

He has now worked with four generations of the Moon family, which founded ISD Solutions in 1946 and established The P&M Group, the Gloucester-based coldstore and composite panel specialist, in 1986.

Today that umbrella business includes ISD, PLG Insulations, doors and metal fabricator QuayTherm Manufacturing, a division in Australia and Midlands-based installations specialists S. Tysoe Installations.

Together the companies employ more than 190 staff and turnover an estimated £70 million.

Leighton (pictured below, right), who is now 70 and still lives in the city, has witnessed that growth alongside many practical and technological advancements, and is now the firm’s technical support manager.