An oak frame builder has bought out part of timber specialist Xylotek after the latter was felled by supply chain issues.
Part of the Bristol-based firm was bought in a pre-pack sale for £135,000 by Carpenter Oak Build Ltd.
The sale saved the jobs of Xylotek’s 16 employees, who have transferred over to the new owner. Seven staff members left their jobs shortly before the sale was agreed.
Simon Jagger and Ben Woodthorpe of ReSolve Advisory were appointed as the firm’s administrators last month (31 July). Xylotek first approached ReSolve in February to seek investment. No investment was received despite “deep interest” from a few parties, Jagger wrote.
Xylotek ran into problems earlier this year after the death of co-founder Charley Brentnall and the collapse of the main subcontractor on its biggest project, according to a report from the administrators.
Turnover peaked at £7.9m in 2023 after the company won a raft of contracts ranging from £150,000 to £400,000. Administrators wrote that the firm’s rapid growth led to “expansion at an unmanageable pace, causing internal complications and resulting in losses on major projects”.
The company opted not to reveal its profits or losses in its last set of accounts, which covered the 2022 calendar year.
Commenting on the sale, Jagger said Xylotek operated in an “important niche” in UK construction, but like other businesses had suffered from “too-rapid expansion and the economic shocks of the past few years”.
Founded in 2018 by three timber designers, Xylotek worked for Bam and ISG and on projects including the demountable auditorium and rainscreen facade at London’s Abba Voyage arena. It was working on a cafe at the Natural History Museum in west London and a bridge boardwalk at the Canada Water masterplan, according to its website.
Carpenter Oak has offered timber engineering services for 35 years, including restoring Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire and repairing huts in Antarctica. Five projects it has worked on have won Royal Institute of British Architects awards, and the firm featured on TV show Grand Designs in 2001.
Managing director Luke Copley-Wilkins said Xylotek serves an important gap in the UK construction market, adding it was pleased to offer that expertise to its own customers.
He said: “Many leading architects, engineers and clients want to build from wood to decarbonise the built environment and for aesthetic reasons, but prior to Xylotek there was a noticeable lack of suitable expertise in the supply chain.”
