They do say that the only constant in life is change. Change is not something that many businesses relish either, and just as in life, this is one of the only things you can rely on. However, whilst we often shy away from change and it can certainly take us in many different directions, it also brings with it great opportunity, it just depends on your state of mind.

If your business is forward thinking and innovative, then all you see from change is opportunity. Imagine being in an industry that is changing forever. The products you supply are almost becoming obsolete. You could think that this is the end. That you need to think of a new career or you could take some decisive action and look at how you can adapt and move with the times.

I recently had the privilege to speak to one such company, who not only survived, but prospered in a shrinking market place. They had the vision and determination to move forward and are rapidly becoming world leaders in their field. You may not of heard of the company before, but you will have certainly seen their work. James and Taylor started out in business in 1988 in New Malden, Surrey, as brick suppliers. Back then there were hundreds of small brick producers all around the country, which if you were an architect proved somewhat of a nightmare. The problem was that you may have an image in your mind of what type of brick for a particular build you may need, but finding that brick was a completely different matter. This is where James and Taylor came in. They acted almost like an estate agent for bricks, if you can imagine such a thing. They dealt with the multitude of producers around the country and then became a one stop shop for anything brick.

After a few years something began to change in the industry. For a start there were less bricks being used in buildings, but for James and Taylor, worse than that, brick manufacturers began merging or being bought out by larger producers. This meant that there were fewer producers with fewer products, which in turn meant that they were easier for the architects to find and as a result they could deal with the producers directly. Whilst all this was happening, the company had opened new offices in Altringham. Then, after the bomb in the Arndale Centre in 1996, James and Taylor were approached to see if they could provide a product that could withstand almost anything. What they found was a clay tile from Germany which had actually been developed for the rebuilding of Berlin. The tile used a modern fixing mechanism which did not need any mortar and it could also be used in any weather conditions. The product was a huge success. So much so in fact that they became distributers for it. They supplied that product exclusively for 5 years after which other similar products began to creep onto the market. Ever resourceful and forward thinking, they decided to go back out and find some more innovative cladding solutions, which they did. The next product they found was a timber tile. They used this on Edinburgh University. Now the company really got a taste of what they could do and continued to search out the finest and most innovative products they could find. Now they actually manufacture a range of metal products and continue to offer very high quality wood, clay and brick solutions.

James and Taylor have had their products used on some of the world's most iconic buildings. Selfridges in the Bull Ring in Birmingham for example. If ever you see a photo of Birmingham, they always show this building, you know the one, covered in what looks like thousands of metal buttons. Actually it was 17,500spun metal discs and the product never even existed before. The architect had a vision of how he wanted the building to look and James and Taylor not only made the discs and tested them, but also developed the fixing system. They have also done the Museum of Modern Art in New York, (with a different product). This is the building that looks like boxes badly stacked on top of each other. There are actually so many they have done over the years that we couldn't possibly list them all. There are also some very exciting new projects just about to be confirmed, but we can't mention them yet, unfortunately. Some of the buildings they have done that you may be familiar with are the Hacienda, Spinning Fields, head office of M.E.N arena, Media City, the Bio Science Building, Aquines College in Stockport, the list goes on and on. Outside of the area they have also done Jamie Oliver's new restaurant in Canary Warf.

Much of the work that James and Taylor do is very high profile and there is good reason why they keep getting these very impressive commissions. The company tag line is "were innovation comes as standard". But its more than innovation, quality is also a pre requisite for James and Taylor. After all, you would want to make sure your products were of the very highest standards if you gave an 80 year guarantee with them wouldn't you. Justin Price, Sales Director at James and Taylor says that he wants people in the industry to be able to look at a building and recognise that it is clad in their products simply by the quality, both in design and finish.

James and Taylor supply a huge range of products, from general up to very specialist and bespoke. They also work on a wide range of size of jobs, from over 1 million bespoke bricks for St Pancreas station in London, to a small quantity of specialist bricks for an extension to Wayne Roonie's house.

The staff at James and Taylor are certainly passionate about what they do. Justin says that they have a very low turnover of staff and this is due to the fact that it's an exciting place to work. There are always new challenges so it never gets boring and everyone has a hands on approach. This is hardly surprising as given what you've just read about the size of contracts they fulfil and the world wide locations they work in, would you be surprised to find out that they do all of this with just 45 staff across 5 offices throughout the UK and Ireland.

It's great to see a company so passionate and driven in what they do and this certainly shows in their work. I look forward to watching with interest over the coming months to see what else they are getting up to, hopefully going for gold in London.

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