Our history
As we plan ahead for our future, the Brett Group is in the privileged position of being able to look back over nearly a century of progress. We never forget the keen business brains and formidable mental and physical energies of our early founders and those that succeeded them. From the moment the company was established in 1909, they have given us some inspiring examples to follow.
It all began in 1884 when Robert Brett started work for a steam and traction engine maker and owner in Wincheap, Canterbury. He laboured hard for his initial 3d an hour and soon worked his way up to become an engine driver.
After his first employer died, and with his keen initiative and ingenuity, Robert Brett was able to set up his own haulage business. At the time the roads in and around Canterbury were made of surface-picked flints and clinker and the enterprising Robert saw possibilities in road surfacing and construction. He and his small team of workers gathered flints and clinker from farms and gas works, delivering them to the local council’s road construction sites. And, as demand for building materials grew, Robert Brett pioneered sand and gravel quarrying in East Kent.
Strong foundations
Brett has always been a leader in the introduction of new technology. In the 1920s it became the first company in the South of England to produce washed gravel and to use steam powered excavators called ‘mechanical navvies’. Later, as the standard road surfaces changed, Robert and his sons introduced tar-spraying machines and heavy road rollers, winning contracts to deliver crude tar to distilleries and refined tar to road works. In 1928, the family registered the business as a private limited company and expansion began. During the next decade, ‘Durite Canterbury Spar’, made from a type of flint unique to the Stour Valley went into production – and at Broad Oak Road a tarmacadam plant was opened.
Supporting the war effort
In the Second World War Canterbury was devastated by air raids and the company’s lorries were requisitioned. The Ministry of War Transport put William Brett in charge of rationing petrol supplies to all of Canterbury’s commercial transport operators. Thousands of tons of sand and gravel were supplied for the construction of airfields, gun batteries and other defence installations. The workshops at Wincheap became a munitions factory.
In 1945, William and Herbert Brett dedicated much of the business to producing materials urgently needed for the reconstruction of Canterbury and for public building programmes in neighbouring towns.
Meeting demand
Ever-increasing requirements for building materials led the brothers to open East Kent’s first ready-mixed concrete plant in 1959. When William and Herbert died in 1961 and 1963 respectively, they had prepared the company for what was to become a period of relentless, sometimes spectacular, expansion.
Sustainable Growth
Brett has always grown in a way that sustains the company and ensures that customers continue to get the levels of service they demand. In many cases our business has grown through word of mouth as new customers use us based on the recommendations of others. We have also acquired a number of companies in more recent years, including companies in Jersey and America, adding to our geographical spread of quarries, plants and facilities which support our growing business.
Today we have over 900 employees supporting a national landscaping business and a construction product portfolio that continues to be strongly focused in the South East and overseas in the Channel Islands and in Virginia, USA.
Capturing history
This is merely a snapshot of our history. Brett has played a part in the local and business community over many years and we have developed an archive that captures our heritage. If you have a specific enquiry please contact our company historian, Paul Tritton on paul.tritton@btinternet.com.