Our History
One fine day in 1982 a man from Mars (well Mars Confectionery) challenged British inventor, Peter Gibbins, to develop a special type of flooring that would stop sugar eating into the floors in his production plant. Peter was about to sell the man from Mars his ingenious formulation, when his wife finally cracked, saying, “for goodness sake, why don’t you just set up in business?”
With the help of his ambitious daughter, Dawn Gibbins MBE, Peter created Flowcrete that same year, starting out in a small manufacturing unit located in the heart of Cheshire. Over the following years Peter and Dawn worked round the clock to build solid foundations for the company and guarantee its long-term future in a competitive marketplace.
In 1984 they secured their first major project for NATO, where their infra-red reflective coatings went down a treat. Their success was further cemented a few years later when they were awarded their first Department of Trade and Industry Award for Innovation. By 1990 Flowcrete’s turnover had reached the £1m mark – this coincided with the arrival of another mark – a dynamic entrepreneur fresh out of business school, Mark Greaves, who was to go on to lead the company and still remains at the helm of business operations today.
During the early nineties Flowcrete continued to go from strength to strength launching its polyurethane flooring systems to the food and drinks industry, promoting its waterproof car park deck coatings, developing its water-based flooring technologies and securing a patent for its deep penetrating hardening system, which was proving to be a revolution in sub-floor repair. In 1994, Dawn became the youngest ever industrialist to receive her MBE for services to industry but was heartbroken that Peter was unable to witness her success following his death from cancer the previous year.
1995 signalled the year that Flowcrete’s world domination really began with the acquisitions of Isocrete Floor Screeds, Gyvlon Floor Screeds, Chryso UK and Beaver Anchorlyte. At the same time as buying in, Flowcrete was stretching out opening offices in Hong Kong, the Czech Republic, Thailand, China and a manufacturing plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this era of fast growth a number of projects were coming online including the largest ever screed contract to date at Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong as well as high-profile installations at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the iconic Millennium Dome in London.
At the turn of the century, Flowcrete opened a new commercial sales office in the UAE and entered into a joint venture in Brazil with a local company to penetrate the South American market. New flooring innovations included Isowarm – underfloor heating as well as a range of seamless antimicrobial systems capable of destroying bacteria at ground-level.
With an ever-growing client base including Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, Nokia, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche Pharmaceuticals, L’Oréal and Sharjah Mega Mall Shopping Centre in the Middle East the world really did seem to be at Flowcrete’s feet – and with the further acquisitions of Atako Corrosion Protection and Perstorp Construction Chemicals in 2002 Flowcrete had much to celebrate on its 20th birthday.
The following years saw Flowcrete enter the South African, Australian and North American markets as well as strengthening its presence on the European Continent and throughout the Asia Pacific. The launch of its Flowfast system in 2006 generated further success as the flooring innovation – capable of curing in just 2 hours – raced across the globe. Another triumph came in securing Flowcrete’s biggest contract to date – an £8m project at the exclusive Jumeirah Lakes Towers development in the Middle East.
Today, Flowcrete is recognised as a truly international company and spans the globe with 29 commercial sales offices and eight manufacturing plants worldwide. In 2008, Flowcrete became part of Ohio-based RPM International Inc, a stock-exchange listed company with subsidiaries that manufacture and market high-performance coatings, sealants and speciality chemicals. In 2009, Flowcrete was rewarded for its international success in exporting British flooring technology overseas in the form of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, which it achieved in the category of International Trade.
Flowcrete is a unique flooring success story, with an interesting and exciting family-based history. With a bright future ahead one thing is clear, that the Flowcrete story has many more chapters yet to be written…