AN AWARD-WINNING company has beaten off European competition to land a contract to provide bricks for the £1 million transformation of a well-known York garden centre.

York Handmade Brick Company, based at Alne, near Easingwold, will be supplying 15,500 bricks for the project at Dean’s Garden Centre in Stockton-on-the-Forest.

Guy Armitage, managing director of York Handmade, one of the leading brick makers in the UK, said: “It is extremely satisfying to beat stiff European competition.

“We were up against a Dutch brick company, but the project managers, Walker Nicholas, ultimately chose us. I know how important the bricks are to the new-look garden centre and we are determined to do an excellent job.

“Mark Reynolds of York-based Evora Construction, the main contractor, is very enthusiastic about our bricks and we would like to thank Evora for suggesting our bricks to the architects, who then visited our factory in Alne to see for themselves.

“The visit was a success and we are creating a special Maxima blended brick to the architects’ specifications.

“We are very proud to strike a blow for independent brickmaking in the Vale of York. The region has a fine heritage of brick manufacturing and we are keen to maintain this. Having weathered the recession, which hit the construction sector very hard, we are now well-positioned to support the upturn in the sector,”said Mr Armitage.

Mr Reynolds said: “We are big supporters of York Handmade and their bricks and were keen to use them on this prestigious project.

“We felt that their bricks would be more suitable for this specific project than the imported Dutch ones and, importantly, we like to use local Yorkshire companies when we can.

“We were delighted when the project team visited the York Handmade factory and agreed with us. Now we are looking forward to working together to create a fantastic garden centre, fit for the 21st century,” said Mr Reynolds.

“The garden centre is a hub of the community, so we feel extremely privileged to be the ones making a mark in its history.”

The refurbishment and extension, scheduled for completion in the spring of next year, will create a state-of-the-art coffee shop and kitchen facility, as well as a total remodelling of the toilet and back-of-house facilities to increase the capacity and meet demand.