The head of North Wales’s biggest house building firm has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award.
Graham Anwyl, Managing Director of Rhyl-based Anwyl Construction, received the award at a glittering ceremony at St David’s Hotel, Ewloe.
It came from the people whose job it is to ensure building quality, Local Authority Building Control officers from across North Wales and marks over 80 years of construction work by one of Wales’ oldest established building firms.
The Head of Denbighshire Building Control, Robin Johnstone, who nominated Graham Anwyl for the award, said: “The award is in recognition of the high standards Anwyl has built up over the years.
“They are serial winners of our awards, they have a good working relationship with us and they always make sure they deliver a good package for new home owners and businesses.”
Anwyl Construction was begun in 1930 by Graham Anwyl’s grandfather, Thomas, and carried on by his father T W ‘Wally’ Anwyl and Graham, now 67, has since been joined on the board by the fourth generation of the family, sons Tom and Mathew and daughter Lucy.
He said: “I’m conscious that it is a great honour and we are proud of our reputation for quality and believe it is the principal reason we are still in business after 81 years. It is, of course, a great attribute to the staff we have employed during this period of time.”
Anwyl have been for some years North Wales’s biggest private house builders, building up to 250 new homes every year, but for a long time that sector was very much a sideline.
Graham said: “It used to be something we did in the summer to keep the men in work because most of our work was done in Rhyl and Prestatyn in the winter.
“Contracting in those days used to ease off in the summer because people wanted their bingo arcades and shops done in the winter because their businesses were in the holiday trade and needed to be open for the summer.
“We have worked on virtually every building on Rhyl High Street, often more than once and we used to concentrate in quite a small area around Rhyl, Prestatyn and Denbigh.”
That’s not the case now with Anwyl building houses from Anglesey to Shropshire and Cheshire and involved in prestigious construction projects from universities, schools and colleges to churches.
Graham, who was born in Greenfield Street, just a stone’s throw from the company’s base in Mona Terrace, went to Rhyl Grammar School and to the College of Building in Liverpool before joining the firm in 1964.
“I was in Liverpool when the Beatles were there. I saw them at New Brighton Tower for the College Ball – they were the support for Terry Lightfoot and his Jazz Band.”
In the Sixties Anwyl employed between 50 and 60 men – now it is 150 and they are the largest private employer in Rhyl.
Graham took over the running of the company from his father in 1977 and under his guidance the company embarked on a radical and successful shift in emphasis.
He said: “We decided to expand our house building in the Eighties and we used the profits it generated to invest in land so we could continue to build and that’s worked well for us.
“We were building 250 homes a year and we’re very proud of the quality of the building and this is reflected in the number of awards we have won from the National House Building Council and the LABC.”
“We continue to expand our Contracting Division and operate throughout North Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. Our clients include Local Authorities, Education, Health and repeat private clients, particularly in the Hotel and Leisure Sector.
“We are particularly proud that we achieved the North Wales overall award for ‘Best Education Building’ on the same night I received my Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Even though we build right across North Wales and into the North West and Midlands we are still very much a local company employing local people and we like to deal with the local authority and build a rapport with them.
“Ours is a site-made product and each site is unique and has its own problems and challenges and we’ve had to learn to deal with them and there are so many disciplines which we need to be able to carry out and for that we need staff who can think on their feet.
“A great source of pride for us is that a lot of the lads who started with us as apprentices have gone on to become foremen and site and contract managers and we have a strong training programme that has brought them forward.
“Now the company is run by Tom, Mat and Lucy (his sons and daughter) and we are still building homes but they are structurally and environmentally much better than those of 50 years ago.”
Graham still remembers the first job he worked on: “It was the Crown Bard pub in Rhuddlan Road and when we finished there we moved everything across the road to work on the pub opposite, the Ffordd Derwen.”
In his time Anwyl worked for the likes of Marks and Spencer, Barclays, Boots and for many local companies in Rhyl where they also built the Palace Arcade: “We are still working for many national companies, together with many of the major local private companies such as the Empire and Osbourne hotels in Llandudno and the Anna Davies shop in Betws y Coed.”
He and his wife, Ann, who live in Prestatyn, have seven grandchildren and are still actively involved in the company – Ann is responsible for the tasteful decor at the company’s show houses – and Graham keeps himself fit with golf at St Melyd where he is club president and former captain, skiing and regular running.
