Thornton Sports

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :10/12/2007 10:00:08

With over 25 years experience in the sports construction business, Thornton Sports has grown into a group of companies offering a turnkey service for all requirements

Written by Lucy Mowatt and produced by Charles Sizeland

Made up of G Thornton Contracts, Nordon, Protech AllWeather and GTC Sports, Thornton Sports is able to offer design and installation of sports surfaces, maintenance and equipment. They also manufacture their own synthetic grass at their head office in Lancashire. It prides itself on being able to offer services from concept to completion and has a team of highly skilled employees which is capable of delivering exactly what the customer wants.

Graham Thornton Contracts was established in 1978 by Graham Thornton and mainly focused on the construction of tennis courts in Yorkshire and the North of England. In 1995 Nordon was acquired, which increased the company’s turnover significantly, because synthetic grass manufacture was added to the business, and therefore offered a more comprehensive service for customers.

David Saxby, 54, has worked for the company since 1995 and in the construction industry for more than 30 years. He became managing director of the company in 2005 following a management buy-out, when Graham Thornton retired. He now holds 50 percent of the company’s shares.

Over recent years, he explains, there has been increased demand for maintenance services for sports facilities. He says, “We kept getting demand for maintenance services but we did not have the resources to satisfy ongoing requirements. Then we came across Protech, who we started to use on an ad hoc subcontract basis and earlier this year we decided to take them under our wing and bought the business.”

Mr Saxby explains that this acquisition had a number of positive effects upon the business. By keeping the original staff, it has kept Protech’s expertise and reputation. However, it allows Thornton Sports to make contact with companies which may need facility overhauls in the future, and these potential clients know that Thornton can be trusted to complete contracts on time and to budget.

Innovative solutions

Thornton Sports is capable of carrying out many different types of work, thanks to the four divisions and their specialist activities. It mainly produces facilities for soccer, hockey, athletics tracks, rugby, tennis, and to a smaller degree, netball, although it is also able to produce surfaces for fitness centres and dance studios. “This surface is offered by G Thornton Contracts, which is our equipment company, and it’s a spinoff of what we do. We often do kit outs of sports halls, with all the nets and equipment, and we can often do the floor as well,” Mr Saxby explains.

Annually, the company produces 400,000 metres of synthetic grass; this is the company’s main output and has been accompanied by increased demand for 3rd generation thick pile carpets. Thornton Sports believes that it could produce more though, and is looking to implement a two-shift working day.

There have also been recent investments made in the company’s equipment. New machinery worth £150,000 was purchased to increase efficiency and develop the product range. David Saxby explains why this is important: “Our carpets can have a bias put on them for different sports. A carpet for rugby, for example, is completely different to that used for high performance tennis. Our equipment makes this easier.”

Although the company does not have a dedicated R&D department, it is able to innovate on individual contracts and create solutions. It has developed a water-filled hockey pitch and a unique drainage system on its pitches.

The porosity rates of its DrainBacked carpet has much better drainage that many similar products in the market, and other carpets have increased seam integrity. It also uses CAD technology to design the best facilities and make sure that facilities are suitable and offer the best solution to the customer.

There are plans to look at installing high performance, conventional grass pitches in the future. The company is in the initial stages, but feels it is something that could be profitable going forward.

Colleague competitors

“We have developed relationships in the past with a number of potential competitors and we’re looking to do that again,” Mr Saxby explains. The company finds that expertise can be shared in a mutually beneficial way for both parties.

He provides the example of one such partnership in the past. “We worked with a contractor who manufactured recycled rubber into shock pads for beneath pitches. Because we manufactured carpet we created a trading arrangement, which resulted in partnership,” he says. He describes the relationship in terms of “colleague competitors” who both want the best from each other to remain at the top of their industry.

All of Thornton’s products are certified to ISO 9001 standards, for which the company employs an external consultant, who advises on best practice in these areas and what can be improved. It is also audited by an external body at least once a year. This quality, when combined with the turnkey solutions that Thornton can provide, means that it often has repeat customers and ongoing projects.

Improving turnover

The contracts are all overseen by Thornton Sports’ 40 members of staff, who are skilled and motivated. The company encourages team building and cohesion, which means that although its people come from all sectors, they create an excellent team. “If you can select the right person in the first place, it is easier for them to become an essential part of the business,” the MD asserts. There is also a bonus scheme in place for when financial results are good, while offering pension and health insurance schemes.

Two of the company’s most recently signed contracts are for the construction of new facilities for the National Athletics Centre in Cardiff and 3rd generation surfacing projects in London and Yorkshire. The contract signed in Cardiff is worth in the region of £1.6 million and will involve the construction of a 400 metre stadium, an athletics track, a new synthetic sports pitch and a conventional seeded pitch for soccer. Mr Saxby reveals that this will be followed by conventional pitches for rugby upon completion.

The 2012 Olympic Games in London will also offer Thornton Sports a number of opportunities for new business. “I think where I intend to focus my activities will be on sites used for training bases for national tams. Bidding to be involved with the actual facilities for the Olympics will be too cut-throat, so I will be looking at universities, for example, which have athletics fields and accommodation for training national teams.” He explains that he is already looking into the potential, especially in areas where Thornton Sports has already ?had business.

The company’s turnover for 2007 is set to reach £13 million, which is slightly down on last year’s figure. David Saxby explains that this is because there was a lack of work in the industry in the early part of the year. He is, however, positive about the figure and the fact that it will change going forward. “There has been a bit of a downturn, but our actual sales figures are at a record high, so the carry over to next year looks to be better than last year.”