History of Bell & Webster Limited

Originally based at Belcon House, Essex Road, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, Bell & Webster Limited was established on 1st April 1948.

Bell & Webster Limited first started manufacturing coal bunkers, for which there was a large demand just after the war, local authorities being the target market and within a few years the company became the largest supplier of coal bunkers in this sector.

In 1955, Concrete Utilities, another locally based precast buildings manufacturer became part of the company and added the Agrecon range of agricultural and industrial frameworks to the product list, continuously adding to the  product range, Bell & Webster Limited, added a roofing division to undertake the roofing and cladding of building structures, and then Building Division  which managed the installation of garage foundations and allied works providing a package deal of design and build services for an ever developing customer base.

Progression of the product range saw two major products developed by the Bell & Webster’ engineering team; the forward sloping garage, “The Woking” with integral down pipes cast into the front support columns significantly reducing the damage to drainage products. Then came the precast home “The Belfry” this also introduced, Barry High Ltd, a reputable house builder that was acquired to construct the new homes of which almost 1000 precast units were supplied, principally to London Borough Councils.  Over the years, Bell & Webster Limited also supplied thousands of retaining walls for uses as diverse as silage clamps to military blast walls.

In 1960, Bell & Webster Limited had developed on many fronts and joined forces with the St Albans based Electric Light Company and Bell and Webster Limited and together became part of Eleco Holdings Limited, Later plc, with Frank Webster, the founding Bell & Webster Limited Partner, becoming a group Chairman.

In 1962 Fencroft Fencing, a Grantham, Lincolnshire, fencing manufacturer and installer was acquired, along with a 20 acre land holding. The factory capacity was increased to support the manufacture of garages, sheds and later lamp columns, principally to serve the Midlands and NorthernRegions. Significant contracts resulted from this acquisition, with major projects for Birmingham City (Castle Vale), Nottingham City, Kingston upon Hull and Rochdale Borough Councils in addition to several thousand units being supplied to homes owned by the National Coal Board nationally.

In February 1984 Bell & Webster Limited became one of the first companies in the United Kingdom to be granted BSI approval for the manufacture of Structural Precast Products. In 1988, Bell & Webster was de-centralised and the various companies became trading companies within Eleco plc group and Bell & Webster Limited was split into a number of different companies including Bell & Webster Concrete Limited.

On our 50th Birthday, 1st April 1998, the Senior Founding Partner, Frank Webster, Attended our main site in Grantham to celebrate and commemorate the formation of Bell & Webster. This tree was planted by Frank and highlights the continuous success of the business.

Over the years the company land and property portfolio has increased with the Grantham site being centralised to all concrete production, in excess of 10 acres, it has been completely developed for intensive production of a variety of products.

To acknowledge our presence within Grantham, located within the heart of the town we located two adjacent street names, Bell Close and Webster Way.

It was in the late 1990’s that the Room Solutions concept was introduced to Bell & Webster Concrete Ltd, by our Gavin Lowe who was actively exploring the Construction Industry across Europe. This idea was soon introduced into the United Kingdom and Bell & Webster Concrete soon became market leaders in this area, with our first project working with this new concept was the Holiday Inn, Warwick. The construction was a success and Bell & Webster has been continuing forward into 2011 as market leaders.

In December 2007, another site was acquired at Hoveringham to assist in the production of concrete products, however, due to the recent economic downturn and the recession impact on the construction industry this factory facility was mothballed in June 2011.

To date Bell & Webster Concrete Limited have completed several projects including;

1. 50 No. Express by Holiday Inn Hotels providing a solution for nearly 5,300 rooms.
2. 11 No. Ibis Hotels providing solutions for nearly 2,000 rooms.
3. 24 No. Student accommodations for nationwide Universities, providing solutions for nearly 16,000 rooms.
4. 6 No. Holiday Inns  Hotels providing over 1,000 rooms.
   

Other Hotel projects include Ramada Encore Hotels, Devere Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Travelodge, Arora and Radisson Hotels which total to over 2,800 rooms. 

Other room projects include MOD accommodation, custodial accommodation, YMCA accommodation, residential accommodation and a small school, which total to over 3,500 rooms.

Bell & Webster has also manufactured and delivered over 65,000 retaining walls, manufactured the terracing for 10 UK stadia projects and manufactured numerous ground beam projects.