Andrew Mason: real estate developer with an ethical approach
What or whose spirit was it that captivated Andrew Mason one dark and dreary night when he broke through the barrier that surrounded three half-abandoned mills? It may sound like something of an Edgar Allen Poe mystery, but the idea that perhaps Henry Mason, who built Victoria Mills near Shipley in West Yorkshire in the mid-19th century, somehow had an influence on the restoration project is attractive.
The fact that Andrew Mason, managing director of Newmason Properties, took his wife’s surname when they married in 1993 cannot but add to that sense of positive fatalism. Henry Mason, Andrew Mason, Newmason and perhaps a mason or two seem to have conspired on a unique project worth an investment of £80 million.
Henry Mason built his textile mills during the Victorian era when the industry was booming. The model employer, Sir Titus Salt, had already established his unique Saltire village nearby with his innovative approach to providing a safe, caring and positive environment for workers at the plant. Titus Salt built houses and streets named after his eleven children. He provided a library, restrooms, reading rooms, schools, a church, and a mechanical institute for his workers on the grounds that a good work environment was not only good for individuals but also good business practice.
His influence on the textile industry was enormous and lives on in Newmason’s approach to the project that Andrew Mason started just four years ago. “I’m flattered by the comparison. I’m purring like a Cheshire cat here because this construction business is wonderful. It’s incredibly rewarding to start with a plan and an idea and really make it happen. Titus Salt clearly had a mission at Saltire and our mission now it is similar in many respects.
“My Aunt Mary worked at Victoria Mills and my father remembers it all very well. He worked as a carpenter and remembers swimming in the canal here, walking 14 miles for three and sixpence, for example. Yes, fashions change and his memory of Being tasked with turning all of Saltire’s six-panel doors into flush doors that have now been restored to their original state is a fine example of fashions changing and coming full circle.”
But the property lives on and these wonderful solid mills with their huge windows and high vaulted ceilings are being restored and preserved for future generations. They will not be spinning alpaca or cotton, but will be the places of residence of the new generations in the peaceful environment of living history.
“People’s needs and demands change over time. We’ve gone from providing toilets and reading rooms to offering a tennis court, a sauna and a gym, a panini bar and I think a wonderful environment, but we’re doing it with awareness of what we want”. have here”.
The site, which was a working mill until the 1990s, is five and a half acres within the buffer zone of a World Heritage Site. The buildings themselves are listed and no old interiors have been ripped out. Instead, modern planning demands for fire safety and health and safety have been integrated without compromising tradition. The internal stone stairs remain; steel support pillars still support the building and the new roofs come with a 150-year guarantee that puts the whole project in perspective.
“I have two children, ages 9 and 11, and I want them to be able to stand on this spot and be able to say ‘Daddy did this.’ We love what we do. We are absolutely committed to offering the best quality here in every way, and that means using the right materials, like oak and stone, and craftsmen who take pride in their work.”
In fact, Andrew Mason’s relationships with his staff reflect a set of values with which Titus Salt would have been completely comfortable. “The environment is everything. If people are happy at work, as I am, then they will take pride in using their skills and improving the game to the best of their ability. It’s all about creating the right environment for people to thrive We want people to feel happy coming to work.”
That’s all well and good, say the cynics, you talk for the talk, but what about delivery? When it comes to the bottom line, when it comes to profit, all this ideology just flies out the window, doesn’t it? Not for Andrew Mason, who stocks the office fridge every Monday with a wide variety of snacks and beverages that his staff help themselves to; that he makes sure that construction workers are not forced to use nasty and basic toilets on site, but have decent facilities.
“If you treat people with respect, they’ll respond to that. It shows very clearly in the bottom line because we have very, very few sick days and no one has left the company in the last four years since we started this project.” .”
However, it would be wrong to suggest that respect and an egalitarian structure are some kind of getaway. Andrew Mason doesn’t shy away from tough decisions or fear conflict. What is clear is that he does not need personal arrogance or pomposity to prove his worth. He exemplifies the adage that it is the humblest of men who are the greatest real contributors.
In Andrew Mason’s opinion, that enviable record is due not specifically to his own personal skills, but to the entire peer group that exists around his workforce. People talk and chat with him; they meet him on the site every day and share football results as well as new development insights. Andrew was extremely pleased when the Investors in People assessment team revealed that management, staff, subcontractors and vendors shared the same positive view of the company.
Andrew Mason is living his dream on two levels: he is restoring and renovating the mills that surrounded his childhood, and he is implementing an ideological structure that, though fashionable in the 1850s, he has managed to reshape to fit today’s business environment.
“It’s all about positive reinforcement. When we were working at Byron Halls in Bradford, we were very sensitive to diversity issues, so we went and knocked on people’s doors. We explained what we were doing and why and we visited the mosque and worked make arrangements that we would not accept any deliveries on Fridays so there would be no parking issues for Friday prayers.
“We all saw enough antagonism and confrontation in the days of the mid-1960s when people were promoted to incompetence and the breakdown of industrial relations led to the winter of discontent due to the ‘them and us’ approach. I can.” Honestly, I remember telling someone on the site to do something. I’ve asked them. I’ve never taken the “I’m the CEO” kind of approach. You will do what I say” because it makes people angry. It is much better to try to attract them and show them that you love and respect them.
“There’s a man here right now whose wife, I know, is about to be laid off and that’s going to be hard for them. We have to be a little more flexible there. Another man is studying for an MBA. He gets permission to study but it doesn’t affect his vacation. If he only had permission to study, his wife would never see him and he also has the right to spend time with her.”
In Newmason’s lexicon, the values of a bygone era are preserved not only in the fabric of the buildings, but also in the immense goodwill and loyalty apparent in the workforce. Tellingly, Andrew Mason adds: “It’s not just about altruism, either. Goodwill pays off tenfold on the site.”
“At 18, I worked on North Sea rigs and learned from the tough, tough people of Glasgow, then the concrete factories and later in places like Costa Rica, Chile, Nicaragua and South Africa about social housing schemes where I saw the terrible situation of much of humanity, I am very grateful for what I have and have achieved here.
“We’re creating something at Victoria Mills; a community that people want to live in and are enjoying. Like the Reds who don’t have a word for ‘property,’ I see myself as a steward. My name may be on on the land titles, but they don’t really own these properties. We are protecting industrial heritage for our children and our children’s children. What we do today will affect several more generations and leave it in a much better state than when we did it. we find. .”
The property, bricks and mortar, has a satisfying strength that is lacking in other investment portfolios. Money invested in something so fundamentally durable and essential must be as safe as houses, or mills, in the hands of Andrew Mason.