A FAMILY firm from Hampshire has won a lucrative contract to supply tiles to the exclusive public school where Kate Middleton was educated.
Totton’s Clay and Slate Roofing Products run by Bob Turnball, 63, with his two sons, Ian, 33, and Matthew, 26, have landed a job replacing roof tiles in the historic Marlborough College in Wiltshire.
The £35,000 contract saw the firm, founded a year ago, source and deliver 55,000 handmade vintage tiles.
The deal was also a bonus for another local firm, Michelmersh Brick and Tile Company, which manufactured the tiles at its plant in Romsey.
The Turnballs won the job because they found suitable replacement tiles for the roof of school’s oldest block which dates back to 1843.
Mr Turnball senior said: “For a fledgling company like ours in a difficult climate the contract has been really good news.
“There is a prestige attached to it.
Architects also talk to each other about you if you have a good name in sourcing.”
The firm, based in Eling Wharf in Totton, has a turnover of about £900,000 but hopes to build on this with more contracts in supplying historical and listed buildings with the right period tiles.
Mr Turnball, who sold Turnball Roofing Products in Northam in 2007, hopes to capitalise on his experience and expertise built up in his working life.
Matt Wall, director at Michelmersh, which employs 80 people at its Romsey factory, said: “It was a good order for us to secure, especially supplying that number of tiles in a short period of time.”
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