Longley Concrete Celebrates 70th Anniversary

2017 is a special year for Longley Concrete as the business celebrates its 70th year. In those 70 years, four generations of the Longley family have worked in the company, with the latest Longley family member, Luke, starting only a few weeks ago.

A lot has changed within the company since 1947, including a switch from producing breeze blocks to manufacturing a large portfolio of precast concrete products, which include beam and block flooring, insulated flooring, stairs and lift shafts.

Founder Charles Longley (end right) with Keith Longley (end left)

Longley Concrete is well-known in the industry for being a friendly and supportive place to work. This is epitomised by the longevity of many of their staff members. One of the longest serving associates at the business is Andy Collomosse, who joined the company in 1975. Andy is a local man, living only a few minutes’ walk from the Yorkshire office, in Dewsbury. In his time with the business he has seen it grow significantly, commenting that: “When Michael Longley became MD, we started to see bigger changes. Since the early 90s we have continued to increase production and now we manufacture three times as much concrete as we did back in the 70s.”

Andy also believes that the main reason Longley Concrete has been so successful is because of their approach: “We are all like a family in production. We have people here who have been here for 30+ years and we all get on well. There is never a dull moment and we have had some tough times, but it is a great business to work for.”

These thoughts have been echoed by another long-serving member of the team, Estimator Henry Tang who has been with the business for almost 20 years. Henry believes that advancements in technology have been the biggest change Longley Concrete has had to deal with: “We used to post every quotation out and the process might take a week. Now, because of the internet, quotations can be received within a few hours. This has led to a faster turnaround of works, and, as Andy said, our volumes have significantly increased year on year.”

He was also quick to comment that despite the larger business, Longley Concrete has continued to retain its family-run culture: “We have people who have been here for many years which is testament to the culture of the company. Longley Concrete is well known in the industry as a good place to work.”

Technical Director Vanessa Dunkley, who has been with the business for almost 18 years, commented “the biggest change I have seen in my time at Longleys is the trend towards energy efficient homes and the impact this has had on flooring. Building Regulation changes have seen a decline in the less-efficient timber floors and an increase in insulated suspended concrete flooring.”

One of the newest members of the team is Richard Barratt, who joined only a few weeks ago as Sales Manager. He knew right away that Longley Concrete was a great place to work: “This is a very family-friendly place and the directors have hands-on roles, creating this relaxed but hardworking aura. Everyone wants to achieve the same goal and it is a very driven place to work. I knew of Longley Concrete and Michael, the MD, for quite a while and it’s nice to finally be working alongside them.”

Speaking about the 70-year anniversary, Managing Director Michael Longley said: “This is a fantastic achievement for any business. We have survived multiple recessions and continue to get stronger and stronger as a business. We have plans for further expansion and manufacturing changes which will enable us to take the next step. We are all very excited for the future.”

Longley Concrete supply precast concrete products, including Beam and Block, Hollowcore and Insulated Flooring, as well as Concrete Staircases, Lift Shafts and Stadia. Working across the UK from manufacturing facilities in Yorkshire, London and Northern Ireland, the company can produce flooring for over 28,000 new homes annually*. For more information, please contact the head office on 01924 464 283.

*Based on 80 l/m per house

Old transport vehicles in the yard.