Out of the rubble of the Garenne Group, two businessmen plucked Granite Le Pelley, a company with ‘tremendous potential’. Now they are ready to take the next steps in its expansion. Emily Moore reports
“IF it’s simple, it’s not for us.”
While Pascal Maurice may have been using these words to describe the complex stonework and cladding projects undertaken by Le Pelley, the firm’s chief executive is also quick to acknowledge that the past few years have been anything but simple in all sorts of ways.
Indeed, as Pascal Maurice returned to the company’s offices last January after the Christmas and New Year break, he was looking forward to a “fresh start” after a period in which the industry had been impacted by a range of challenges including Brexit and Covid.
But, as he explains, it was not long before he and the team had to face one of their most challenging experiences yet.
“It was early in the new year that it became apparent that the Garenne Group, which owned the company, which was then called Granite Le Pelley, was in difficulties and, in fact, the Guernsey-based group went into liquidation at the end of March,” he said.
Luckily for Pascal and the team, they were not the only ones aware of Garenne Group’s struggles.
Having moved to Jersey towards the end of 2022, Stuart Wright – whose career has seen him move from law to venture capitalism and then property development – received a telephone call early in 2023 from a friend in Guernsey, advising him that the group was “undergoing some restructuring”.
“He highlighted that this restructuring was likely to result in the sale of Granite Le Pelley, a business which he said had tremendous potential,” explained Stuart.
Suitably intrigued by the prospect, Stuart spent some time with Pascal and the team and immediately felt that, while the company had got “caught up with the wider problems of the Garenne Group, it was a victim of other people’s mistakes rather than its own”.
“Although my own technical skills are very limited – I can’t even wire a plug – I recognised that this was a good business with good people and that it would be worth getting involved,” he said. “I wanted to save the business, save people’s jobs and not only ensure that we delivered existing contracts but that we won new contracts and expanded our remit.”
To reflect both the company’s new ownership and the wider range of work which Stuart and Pascal envisaged the team taking on, it was decided to undertake a rebrand.
“While, as chairman, I’m not in the office telling people how to do their jobs, it did strike me that we needed a bit of a refresh and a name which reflected our ability and intention to work with materials beyond granite,” he explained.
“We could have rebranded as Beyond Granite but, in recognition of our history and heritage, we decided to go with Le Pelley, a name which links with the past while setting us free to embrace the future.”
And along with the new name, says Pascal, has come a new focus and a renewed sense of purpose and confidence.
“We have a tremendously strong and committed team, all of whom stayed with us during the uncertain times at the beginning of last year, so it is great that we are now in a strong position and can communicate that both to our team and to our clients,” he added.
Having joined Granite Le Pelley in 2010, after meeting some of the Guernsey team who were working on Ogier House on The Esplanade, Pascal has built the Jersey operation from the ground up.
“At that point, any projects in Jersey were undertaken by the Guernsey team, so I started on my own,” explained the Frenchman, who has a degree in structural engineering. “It was a very interesting challenge, as I knew nothing about stone at the time.”
Far from being daunted by the prospect, though, Pascal approached the challenge with alacrity.
“They put a lot of trust in me, so it was a very exciting position to be in,” he said, “and I loved the fact that we were working with really nice products on very special projects. Technically, everything we do is very challenging. In fact, if a project is simple, it’s not for us.
“One of our really strong points is our design facility and our ability to combine our design and technical skills to find solutions to very intricate projects,” he said. “This encompasses everything from kitchen flooring and vanity units and book-ended marble tiling in bathrooms of high-net-worth residential homes to the external cladding on developments such as the Premier Inn at Charing Cross and the new Horizon apartments at the Waterfront.
“We have also done a lot of external landscaping, including at Weighbridge Square and at the International Finance Centre, and we designed and installed the entrance of the Pomme d’Or Hotel.”
“Fundamentally, what really sets us apart in our attention to our detail, particularly in the design,” added Stuart. “If, for example, you want bookended marble on a bathroom wall, we will order the marble from Italy and ensure that the cut, tolerances and installation are absolutely nailed on.”
While already working with a range of materials, including limestone, terracotta and marble, there is another stone which Pascal is introducing to the offer and one which he and Stuart say will help to address a range of challenges facing the industry.
“There is an increasing requirement to reduce carbon emissions in building and develop a more sustainable offering,” said Stuart.
“As a result, a number of new houses are now timber- or metal-framed instead of being built from bricks or blocks. Despite this change in construction methods, planners are still keen to maintain a traditional Jersey look to the properties’ façades. However, the frames cannot support the same weight as blocks and bricks.
“Pierre á coller, which Pascal has sourced from France, is a thin granite slip, which fits like a tile but is significantly lighter than traditional stone, making it an ideal solution for maintaining the Island’s visual integrity while responding to the changing needs of modern construction methods.”
And this is not the only way in which Stuart and Pascal are preparing for the future. Another key challenge, they say, is recruitment.
“There isn’t a lot of enthusiasm among young Jersey people for outside trades and, as we are a specialist subset of a much bigger industry, we find it particularly difficult to recruit,” reflected Stuart.
It is a challenge, the men add, which is exacerbated by the lack of specialist training courses available in the Island, something which they are taking steps to address.
“Most of our team have no experience in stone when they join, so we put them through an unofficial apprenticeship-style training programme,” said Pascal. “However, we would love to see a local course for stonework, tiling and cladding, specialised areas for which no training currently exists. To this end, I had a meeting with Jersey Monumental, with whom we are trying to work more closely, and one of the things we are looking at it is a programme which could be run with Highlands College to address this gap.”
It is an ambition, Pascal adds, which reflects the new determination to grow Le Pelley.
“While 2023 has been a year of consolidating and resetting, with Stuart on board, we are now ready to change the scale of the company and really grow,” said Pascal.
But how easy will this be at a difficult time for the construction industry?
“While there is a ‘risk-off’ approach in the commercial sector at the moment because of the uncertainty and rising interest rates, property is all about timing and cycles, something which I’ve seen during my 30 years in development,” said Stuart.
“And, as one side of the market goes down, the other side usually goes up. As a result, I think that we will do a lot of business in the high-end residential market over the next couple of years.
“There is still a lot of demand for high-net-worth individuals to come to Jersey and, whether they are looking for a large family home or a lock-up-and-go, they all want something luxurious and of a high standard.
“When I was looking at this business with a view to buying it at the beginning of last year, I didn’t have any concerns over whether it would survive. This is a business in a strong position and with an incredibly skilled and positive team. Last year we spent time managing and observing the processes, and seeing what could be improved following the split from the wider group.
“Now, all our processes are in place and we are entering 2024 with a high degree of enthusiasm.”
