Ecodek have been manufacturing composite decking and furniture since 2002, holding a wealth of in-house experience to help meet all of your composite decking needs. In the following article, we take a look back at how far we have come in the last 19 years and provide an insight into how we have become one of the UK’s market leaders in wood polymer composite decking materials.
Finding Our Feet
Founded in 2002, Ecodek started life in a small unit based in Chester. Throughout the first few years of business, it was a matter of trial and error, as wood polymer composite decking was pretty much unheard of within the UK. Whilst completing research and development, Ecodek took the initiative to import and resell an American product, as the American wood polymer composite market had been thriving for at least fifteen years. Due to the popularity of the product, in 2004, Ecodek were able to double in size, acquiring in addition the unit next door to allow for increased production capacity and a bigger team to start to produce Ecodek decking boards in house.
Residential Property Development Market Booms
By 2006, Ecodek became a fully established composite decking brand and grew to ten times the size it had started at in 2002. At the start of 2008, it became apparent that there was a huge amount of potential for composite decking within the commercial market. The first major contract that Ecodek secured was with one of the largest residential property development companies in the UK. This led to acquiring several further contracts with various different housing developers across the country.
The Creation Of ‘Stadia’
Towards the end of 2009 the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) approached Ecodek, who were looking for British manufacturers to supply products into the Olympic Stadium, in readiness for the 2012 games. In 2010, Ecodek secured the contract and worked with the ODA to specifically design a board to prevent debris falling between the boards, accumulating and posing as a potential fire hazard. In 2011, Ecodek supplied a bespoke profile for the Olympic Stadium, which ran through the entire VIP area which totalled to around 4000 square meters. This profile is still created today, known as our ‘Stadia’ board, which has now been installed within a number of hospitality and sports venues.
Acquisition By Epwin PLC
In 2013, Ecodek required bigger premises, leading to the move to our current home in Wrexham. Ecodek was acquired by Epwin PLC in 2015 and became Specialist Building Products Ltd trading as Ecodek. This acquisition enabled Ecodek to benefit from the wealth of technical knowledge and contacts throughout the group and go onto create a diverse range of products.
How Adek Was Born
On 14th June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in London. As a result of this terrible accident, a new legislation was issued – the ‘Building Regulation 2018’ which focuses on the materials used on the exterior of residential buildings. The regulation requires all balconies on new residential buildings over 18m in height to be made of non-combustible materials. As the high rise balcony market was a huge part of the decking market, Ecodek had to create a solution – leading to the development and launching of Adek in 2020.
Where We Are Today
Over the last few years, both our wood polymer composite and aluminium boards have diversified into various markets including leisure, education and even street furniture. At the beginning of April this year, we expanded our product range even further, introducing two new collections – Peaks & Parks, which now means Ecodek offer a total of six different ranges.
Angela Hind at Ecodek comments:
“The satisfaction in seeing where Ecodek is today from its humble beginnings is tremendous. The continual development of new products servicing new sectors of the market is a testimony to the dedication of the entire Ecodek team with the full support of the wider Epwin Group.”
For further information about our Ecodek composite decking solution, including design ideas, environmental credentials and recommended installation partners, speak to one of our product specialists on 01978 667840.
