May 12 2004
Brookhouse Holdings Ltd, the Darwen-based composites and metals engineering and tooling company, has been the subject of a management buy-out, supported by the Manchester office of Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity. The new board of directors comprises five of the former management team, complemented by newly-appointed managing and finance directors, both of whom have extensive experience in the aerospace industry.
Founded in 1951, with just four employees producing wooden patterns for the foundry trade, Brookhouse now employs around 470 people at its operating sites in Darwen, Tameside and Huntingdon. The Group companies together offer a unique resource for integrated manufacture and assembly of composite and metallic components and tooling. They also possess a comprehensive and approved composite component repair capability and provide unrivalled experience and expertise in the design of tooling and in the design and manufacture of high precision jigs and fixtures and ground support and workshop test equipment.
Brookhouse has enjoyed a long association with the aerospace industry, both because of its traditional skill base and because of its geographical location close to the major aircraft manufacturing facilities in the North West. Over the years, Brookhouse skills and expertise have been employed in aircraft ranging from the Canberra bomber to the Typhoon fighter and from the Concorde to Airbus A380.
Brookhouse is still very much involved with the aerospace industry, but now enjoys an international customer profile, including the automotive sector, Formula One motor sport, telecommunications and simulation.
Quality has always been fundamental to Brookhouse. The company carries all the accepted quality accreditation and was the one of the first companies in the UK to be approved to ASEN9100:2000, which is a business process-orientated standard, which takes into account the special procedural requirements, which are critical in the aerospace sector. Two Brookhouse companies recently became among the first in the UK to gain approval under the new EASA Part 145 qualification, allowing authorised repair and overhaul of aircraft composite and metallic components.
As Jim Nichols, Brookhouse's new managing director says, " A proven combination of traditional skills and state-of-the-art technology, supported by a rigorous quality philosophy, has allowed the Brookhouse Group to succeed and grow in its traditional markets while diversifying into other market sectors. I am confident that the new management team can capitalise on this success to take the company into its next phase of growth."
The companies which make up Brookhouse Holding Ltd are: Brookhouse Composites, of Darwen, which manufactures and repairs composite components and has particular expertise in the aerospace industry, with the capacity to handle large and complex assemblies, as well as minor details and interior trim panels and components; Brookhouse Patterns, also of Darwen, which specialises in the design and manufacture of tools in a wide variety of materials for composite components; Brookhouse Aerospace Ltd and the Brookhouse SPD Company Ltd, of Hyde, near Manchester, which offer tool design and manufacture, and detailed metallic component manufacture for the aerospace industry, including flying parts and heavy fabrication capability, as well as being major suppliers of ground support equipment and workshop, test and ground equipment; and Brookhouse Paxford Ltd, in Huntingdon, which has long experience of providing tools and moulds for the automotive industry and in the building of composite simulation equipment.
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