What or whose was the spirit that captivated Andrew Mason one dark and dreary night when he broke through the barrier surrounding three semi-derelict mills? It may sound like some sort of Edgar Allen Poe mystery but the notion that perhaps Henry Mason, who built Victoria Mills near Shipley in West Yorkshire back in the mid-19th century, somehow had an influence upon the restoration project is appealing.
That Andrew Mason, Managing Director of Newmason Properties, should have taken on his wife’s name when he married in 1993 cannot but add to that sense of positive fatalism. Henry Mason, Andrew Mason, Newmason and perhaps a stone mason or two seem to have conspired in a unique project worth an investment of ?80 million.
Henry Mason constructed his textile mills during the Victorian era when that sector was thriving. The model employer, Sir Titus Salt, had already established his unique village of Saltire nearby with its innovative approach to providing a secure, caring and positive environment for mill workers. Titus Salt built houses and streets named after his eleven children. He provided a library, baths, reading rooms, schools, a church and a mechanics institute for his workers on the basis that a good working environment was not only good for the individuals but good business practise.
His influence on the textile industry was massive and lives on in the approach of Newmason to the project Andrew Mason began just four years ago. “I’m flattered by the comparison. I am purring like a Cheshire cat here because this construction business is wonderful. It is incredibly rewarding to set out with a plan and an idea and actually make it happen. Titus Salt clearly had a mission in Saltire and our mission now is in many ways similar.
“My Auntie Mary worked in Victoria Mills and my father remembers it all well. He worked as a joiner and recalls swimming in the canal here; walking 14 miles to make three and sixpence for example. Yes, fashions change and his recollection of being tasked to turn all the six panel doors of Saltire to flush doors that have now been restored to that original state is a good example of how fashions change and come full circle.”
But property lives on and these wonderful, solid mills with their huge windows and high vaulted ceilings are being restored and preserved for future generations. They will not be spinning alpaca or cotton but instead will be the dwelling places of new generations in the mellow surroundings of living history.
“People’s needs and demands change over time. We have moved from providing baths and reading rooms to offering a tennis court, a sauna and gym, a panini bar and I think a wonderful environment, but we are doing it with an awareness of what we have here.”
The site, which was a working mill up until the 1990s, is five and a half acres within the buffer zone of a world heritage site. The buildings themselves are listed and there has been no ripping out of old interiors. Instead, the demands of modern day planning for fire security and health and safety have been integrated without compromising tradition. The interior stone stairs remain; the steel support pillars are still holding the building up and the new roofs come with a 150 year long guarantee that puts the whole project in perspective.
“I have two children, aged nine and 11, and I want them to be able to stand on this site and be able to say ‘Daddy did this.’ We are passionate about what we’re doing. We are committed absolutely to delivering the very best quality in every way here and that means using the right materials like oak and stone and the craftspeople who take pride in their work.”
Indeed, Andrew Mason’s relationships with his staff reflect a set of values Titus Salt would have felt entirely comfortable with. “Environment is everything. If people are happy at work, as I am, then they will take pride in using their skills and raise the game to the best of their ability. It is about creating the right environment for people to flourish in. We want people to feel happy about coming to work.”
That’s all very well, say the cynics, you talk the talk but what about delivery? When it comes to the bottom line, when it comes to profit, all this ideology just flies out of the window, doesn’t it? Not for Andrew Mason who fills the office fridge every Monday with a wide variety of snack foods and drinks that his staff help themselves to; who makes sure that construction workers are not forced to use unpleasant and basic ‘thunderbox’ toilets on site but instead have decent facilities.
“If you treat people with respect, they will respond to that. It shows very clearly in the bottom line because we have very, very low sick days and no one at all has left the company in the last four years since we began this project.”
It would be a mistake however to suggest that respect and an egalitarian structure is some sort of cop-out. Andrew Mason does not shy away from difficult decisions nor is he frightened of conflict. What is clear is that he does not need personal arrogance or pomposity to prove himself. He is a clear example of the adage that it is the most humble of men who are the greatest real contributors.
In Andrew Mason’s estimation that enviable record has come about not specifically as a result of his own personal skills but because of the entire peer group that exists around his workforce. People talk and chat to him; they meet him around the site every day and share the football scores as well as new ideas about the development. It pleased Andrew immensely when the Investors in People assessment team revealed that management, staff, sub-contractors and suppliers all shared the same positive view of the company.
Andrew Mason is living his dream on two levels: he is restoring and renovating the mills that surrounded his childhood and he is implementing an ideological structure which while fashionable in the 1850s he has succeeded in reshaping to meet today’s business environment.
“It is all about positive reinforcement. When we were working on Byron Halls in Bradford, we were very sensitive to the diversity issues so we went and knocked on people’s doors. We explained what we were doing and why and we visited the mosque and worked out agreements that we wouldn’t take any deliveries on a Friday so that there wouldn’t be parking problems for Friday prayers. A little bit of consideration goes a long way.
“We all saw enough antagonism and confrontation in the days of the mid-sixties when people were being promoted to incompetence and the breakdown of labour relations ran right up to the winter of discontent because of the ‘them and us’ approach. I can’t honestly remember ever telling anybody on site to do anything. I have asked them. I have never taken the ‘I’m the Managing Director. You’ll do as I say’ kind of approach because it makes people bridle. It is much better to try to bring them in and to show that you care and respect them.
“There’s a man here just now whose wife is, I know, about to be made redundant and that is going to be hard for them. We have to cut a little slack there. Another guy is studying for an MBA. He gets study leave but it doesn’t affect his holiday leave. If he only got study leave, his wife would never see him and he’s entitled to spend time with her as well.”
In the Newmason lexicon, the values of a bygone age are being preserved not only in the fabric of the buildings but in the immense goodwill and loyalty apparent in the workforce. It is telling that Andrew Mason adds: “it’s not all about altruism either. Goodwill is repaid tenfold on site.
“At 18 I worked on North Sea rigs and learned from tough, hard Glaswegians, then concrete factories and later in places like Costa Rica, Chile, Nicaragua and South Africa on social housing schemes where I saw the terrible plight of so much of humanity. I am so very grateful for what I’ve got and achieved here.
“We are creating something at Victoria Mills; a community that people want to live in and are enjoying. Like the Red Indians who have no word for ‘ownership’ I see myself as a steward. My name may be on the title deeds but we don’t really own these properties. We are protecting the industrial heritage for our children and our children’s children. Whatever we do today will affect several more generations and we will be leaving it in a rather better state than it was in when we found it.”
Property, bricks and mortar, has a satisfying solidity about it that is missing from other investment portfolios. Money invested in something so fundamentally enduring and essential must be as safe as houses - or mills - in Andrew Mason’s hands.