Investment by Brandauer in Birmingham

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Having missed Carl Chinn`s broadcast on Newtown`s Brandauer company which celebrated its 150th anniversary a few months ago, it was good to read reports that this long-established family firm is investing in two new high-speed Bruderer presses that will produce more than two billion parts every year.

This investment has the potential to add £2 million of new sales to the firm’s turnover and increases its ability to offer tool transfer services to clients in the aerospace, automotive, and renewables sectors.

A websearch revealed that C Brandauer & Co Ltd is a sixth-generation family business, founded in 1862. It began as a manufacturer of pen nibs, achieving a reputation for excellence with a series of royal warrants, special commissions and high-volume global sales – but as traditional pen nibs became obsolete through the 50s and 60s, the company gradually switched to precision pressings for the supply of components for the growing electrical and telecoms industries, with increasing specialisms in the manufacture of complex metal components, some requiring extreme precision, using `challenging` materials. The company serves many different industries, including the electronics, telecom, IT, computer, medical and automotive sectors.

Brandauer produced the components for the the Large Hadron Collider that act as shields and engineers from both CERN and Brandauer worked together to ensure that the four different sizes of magnets to be manufactured were perfect before they were put into production.

Marie Louise, family member and company archivist adds to the anniversary brochure and company timeline in her blog http://historycbrandauer.blogspot.jp/.

She was given information by the new owners, all subject to planning permission:

“We’re in the process of clearing the rubbish in the building from top to bottom as we speak, and have yet to start any builders work as we are in talks with conservation architects re. what we can and can’t do.

We intend to re-vitalise the initial intention of converting the front and middle section along with the ‘new wing’ into a hotel.  The back section of the building and boiler house we hope can be turned into a college of food and leisure along [with a] micro brewery where students will be taught to brew traditional beers and wine, as micro brewing is becoming more and more popular, as well as other areas like bar keeping, hotel management, licence holders, chefing etc.

Brandauer Court has a nice ring to it, but not sure if it’s stuck yet …”

Sadly serious damage was done by a fire in 2010. The fire service believe it was started accidentally by some of the homeless who were in the building However, excellent pictures of the interior of their old factory, sold in 2000, may be seen on the 28 days later website: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/73723-The-Brandauer-Factory-Birmingham-February-2012..

Restoration would be expensive – but readers will wish both old and new enterprises well.