84 Plymouth Grove, the former Manchester home of novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and judged second only in regional literary significance to the Brontë Parsonage, is in need of urgent structural repair and the subject of a major £500,000 fund-raising exercise, to augment hoped-for donations from the Heritage Lottery and other sources. In response to a request from the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust, independent paint manufacturer HMG Paints has donated decorative emulsions for the initial restoration of the ground floor rooms and is preparing a detailed specification for the restoration of its external rendered façade, using the conservation-grade Herbol Herbolflex elastic surface coating system.

Manchester-based HMG is a long standing advocate of the environmental role of paint, in helping to protect and preserve treasured structural and scarce materials, and its high performance products have been used for the restoration of everything from Victorian pillarboxes and vintage cars and buses, to historic warships and museum artefacts. Thus the family-owned company, which has its headquarters in Collyhurst, is delighted to be involved in this venture, particularly as the building has special architectural significance to Manchester, being one of the few surviving examples of its kind, and the family has strong links with Knutsford, the birthplace of Elizabeth Gaskell and inspiration for her book Cranford.

Now owned by the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust, having acquired the freehold from Manchester University in 2004, 84 Plymouth Grove is a Grade II* detached Regency-style villa, built in the 1830’s. It still has its original wide entrance hall and staircase, while the spacious reception rooms on the ground floor retain all their period features, other than the fireplaces. Among the top seven per cent listed buildings in England, it has three floors and over twenty rooms, but is in very poor condition and in need of major renovation. Once the foundations have been underpinned, the roof replaced, dry rot eradicated and the whole house restored and upgraded, it will be opened to the public and used for lectures and exhibitions.

The wife of the minister of nearby Cross Street Chapel, the Reverend William Gaskell, Elizabeth lived there from 1850-65, during which time she wrote most of her important works and entertained such literary giants as Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë, even producing the latter’s biography, the first of its kind in modern times. In addition to the most popular of her novels, Cranford, first published in Dickens’ magazine Household Words, she penned Wives and Daughters and North and South, both recently adapted into successful television series.

Approached by Janet Allan, Chair of the Historic Buildings Trust, for assistance with the supply of interior paint, HMG Paints responded by donating around 70 litres of silk emulsion in suitably sympathetic shades, for the initial renovation work.

Recognising the need for specialist coatings once the structural works have been completed, HMG is now recommending Herbol Herboflex, a durable elastic reinforcing and finishing system, used for the repair of cracks in rendered facades and with an impressive track record of successful renovation over the last forty years. The finish coat can be supplied in thousands of shades, from the Nature & Architecture colour collection, allowing 84 Plymouth Grove to be returned to its original condition.

For the hardwood doors and window frames, HMG is additionally recommending Glasurit Venti 123 to the project architect. This is a ventilating paint system designed specifically for use on timber frames, which allows the substrate to breath and retain its natural colour, while protecting the wood from weathering and environmental pollution. Both products are available exclusively through HMG’s dedicated Building Paints & Products division.

Further enquiries to HMG Paints, Riverside Works, Collyhurst Road, Manchester M40 7RU, telephone 0161 205 7631, email sales@hmgpaint.com or to The Friends of Plymouth Grove, 10 Dale Road, New Mills, Derbyshire SK22 4NW, telephone 01663 744233.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

HMG Paints, the independent surface coatings manufacturer based in Collyhurst, Manchester, has gained an award for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Better Working, Better Business Conference, held recently at Lancashire County Cricket Club. The event was staged by Manchester Enterprises and Greater Manchester Chamber in conjunction with Eurochamber, the organisation that represents Chambers of Commerce in over forty countries, under the opportunity-manchester.org.uk banner. HMG won the Education award, sponsored by the Government Office North West, and received a record number of five nominations in total.

Recently, HMG Paints was also runner-up in the Small and Medium-Sized Employer of the Year category at the Manchester Employer Coalition Awards 2005. This recognised HMG’s work with people with severe learning difficulties and its excellent on-the-job support provisions.

The Corporate Social Responsibility conference awards were part of a pan-European campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the potential of CSR and facilitating better knowledge of the relevant tools and practices. Recent research shows that a company’s role in the community can directly impact on the bottom line, by helping to strengthen the brand and reputation, boost employee morale, attract and retain talented staff, and engender customer loyalty.

CSR in education involves such initiatives as providing work experience opportunities, holding industry open days and raising awareness of career opportunities, by giving presentations to young people. HMG was particularly praised for its work with the BEST Business & Education Succeed Together initiative, through which the company regularly takes on work experience students and carries out curricular support initiatives; its management team also visits secondary schools in the Manchester area, conducting mock job interviews and sitting on several education steering groups for year 10 and 11 pupils. The paint manufacturing firm additionally takes part in a literacy mentoring scheme and arranges factory tours for schools and colleges, as well as making its riverside conservation site available for classroom sessions to local primary schools.

HMG was also shortlisted in the Arts & Leisure, Community Involvement, Environment and People & Policies categories, again based on case studies submitted to Manchester Enterprises. The Awards evening was presented by Lorraine Worsley MBE, Senior Producer, BBC Action Desk, and Non-Executive Director of the Greater Manchester Health Authority.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

Leading independent paintmaker, HMG Paints is proud of its Manchester manufacturing heritage and has invested substantially in on-site riverside improvement and tree planting programmes, to improve the surrounding environment. So it was delighted to become involved in a local ‘clean up and paint your gate’ initiative, staged recently in nearby Crumpsall, North Manchester.

The event was organised by Groundwork Manchester, Salford & Trafford and the Manchester City Council Campaigns Team. It formed part of Groundwork’s ongoing environmental regeneration work and linked with the council’s Challenge Manchester 2005 ‘100 Days to a Clean City’ campaign, which seeks to tackle anti-social behaviour and improve the physical environment by involving local people in a variety of voluntary activities.

Groundwork’s Community Link Officer, Colette Fairbrother, approached HMG Paints, which has its headquarters in Collyhurst, to supply paint free of charge for the event. The company is always keen to support the local community and to stress the environmental credentials of paint, for preserving and protecting diminishing natural materials, so readily agreed to the request. It supplied a high build, gloss enamel in bronze green for the job, which has excellent coverage, durability and colour retention properties and should preserve and enhance the neighbourhood gates for years to come.

On the day, local residents joined forces with Groundwork and Council staff to paint their backyard gates, in preparation for transforming their newly gated cobbled alleyway into a community garden, complete with trees, planters and hanging baskets purchased with a grant of £5,000. It is part of a scheme to secure open urban spaces by installing lockable gates on alleyways and elsewhere, to prevent them being magnets for litter, vandalism and fly-tipping. The scheme is funded by the Home Office’s Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, which is also supporting the Challenge Manchester 100 Days initiative.

Apart from smartening up their gates, residents found the event a convivial occasion, in some cases creating an opportunity to talk to neighbours who had only been nodding acquaintances in the past.

“It certainly showed that community spirit is not dead. It’s amazing what a lick of paint will do,” says Colette Fairbrother. “Although we have overseen a number of such projects in East Manchester, this was the first of its kind in the north of the city. We’re now hoping it will prompt residents in other areas to propose similar schemes, creating urban havens where everyone can relax and enjoy the surroundings.”

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

..and to:

Groundwork Manchester
Salford & Trafford Ltd
Phoenix House
61 Speer Street
Manchester
M1 1DF
Telephone 0161 873 7182

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

HMG Paints has developed a unique, waterborne, temporary grass marking paint, Paint Away, for reproducing promotional signage at sports grounds. It was created in partnership with associate company, HMG Coatings London of Rainham, Essex, which has already supplied the product for use at Six Nations rugby matches at Twickenham, Murrayfield and the Stade de France, as well as the Tsunami Appeal exhibition game. Insoluble in water once dry and subsequently dissolved with a special remover, the paint has additional applications as an anti-graffiti finish and sacrificial coating.

Paint Away was created for a London-based customer, which has devised patented templates for painted on-pitch signs that assume a 3D perspective when viewed through a TV camera. It was formulated to provide a quick-drying removable coating that will not harm the grass, players or applicators, whilst offering the necessary vibrancy and accuracy of colour for television coverage.

For the same customer, HMG London also provided high performance coatings for painting sports surfaces at last year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games. HMG’s water-based LMP enamel and single-pack Fleet Polyurethane were specified for a wide variety of surfaces, from concrete and tarmac to astroturf and rubber matting, and used at virtually every sporting venue in Athens.

Newly-available Paint Away is a temporary coating, formulated with special waterborne polymers, which become insoluble in water once the paint has dried. It was designed to meet specific customer specifications: it had to be removable, so the sponsor’s branding could be erased after the match; lead-free, so there is no toxic risk when players slide across the turf; water-based, with no ingredients that are harmful to grass; rainfast and highly resistant to foot traffic and abrasion. It was also important that Paint Away had the necessary density and vibrancy of colour, for visibility on TV, and that it could be matched to sponsor’s specific Pantone shades.

For removing Paint Away after each match, HMG has formulated a special Grass Paint Remover, which dissolves the paint without affecting the grass substrate. Whereas solvent-based marking systems actually damage the turf, leaving bald patches on treated areas, and are still visible long after being erased, Paint Away is completely invisible within a week or so. When it was first trialled at Gloucester’s ground in January, for Premiership sponsor Zurich, club staff also commented that Paint Away saved money on paint-damaged kit.

Adopting a hands-on approach, HMG London’s MD, Gary Smith, initially delivered the product personally for the Six Nations Championship, first to Murrayfield and next morning to Twickenham to meet the tight deadlines. He also liaised with ground staff on its application, which can be by brush, roller or spray. Occupying a surprisingly large surface area of more than 100 sq metres, the Royal Bank of Scotland logo looks prominent and distinctive on screen and, thanks to the 3D template, appears like an advertising hoarding actually erected on the pitch.

Thanks to its erasable properties, Paint Away is clearly also ideal for white lining at multi-sports stadiums, allowing the pitch to be marked out for different rules, as well as similar promotional applications in horse racing, tennis and golf. Suitable for many different types of substrate, it could be used on the track and infield at motor racing circuits and is being proposed for the start line and blue-painted runners’ guide at the forthcoming London Marathon.

Away from sport, Paint Away could be specified as a clear anti-graffiti coating, which could be simply removed and repainted seamlessly after being vandalised; as a sacrificial coating for protecting cars and other goods in transit or even valuable classic cars’ original paintwork on the racing circuit; or for readily repaintable backdrops and props on film and movie sets.

Completing HMG Paints’ sporting credentials is the prestigious application of its LMP and Fleet Polyurethane finishes at the Olympic Games. An alternative to alkyd synthetic enamels, water-based LMP is easy to apply and offers good all-round adhesion to many surfaces, including wood, metals, plastic and polycarbonate, its lack of aggressive solvents making it ideal for sensitive materials. Equally versatile, Fleet Polyurethane is a unique blend of polyurethane and chain-stopped alkyd resins, yielding excellent abrasion resistance, adhesion, durability and light fastness.

Between them, these high performance coatings were applied to running tracks, concrete, tarmac, marble, astroturf, carpet, wood, rubber matting and other surfaces. Sufficient paint to cover 30,000 sq metres was supplied, in a dozen different colours for the five Olympic rings, symbols and other markings.

The paint was used in the magnificent new Olympic stadium, the historic Panathenaic setting, the velodrome, volleyball and badminton courts, weightlifting and boxing arenas, on cycling and athletics road courses, at the clay pigeon shooting, the rowing and almost every sporting venue. Not surprisingly, HMG London is now backing the London 2012 Olympic bid, in the hope that its British-made paints will grace the next major British sporting occasion.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Coatings London
K9 Estate
Coldharbour Lane
Rainham
Essex
RM13 9YB
Telephone 01708 526300
email sales@hmg-coatings.co.uk

..and:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

The Don-Bur Group of Staffordshire is a market leader in the design, development and manufacture of truck trailers and rigid vehicle bodies, producing fleet-volume quantities for major hauliers, logistics companies, multiple retailers and brewers. Its patented buckle-less curtain system helped gain the accolade of Commercial Motor’s Trailer of the Year and has revolutionised the way curtain-sided lorries look today.

Don-Bur’s in-house design company, Sapphire Graphics, specialises in the production of all types of commercial vehicle fleet livery, from computer-cut vinyls to printed advertising banners, and is a significant user of a unique flexible coating produced by HMG Paints, Plastikote PVC94. It has been specified for signwriting a fleet of more than 500 curtain siders for giant DIY and garden centre retailer B&Q, as well as countless other livery applications.

PVC94 was developed by Manchester paintmaker HMG for application to PVC materials, selected plastics and other difficult-to-coat substrates. Formulated to adhere strongly to rigid and flexible plasticised surfaces, it is ideal for such applications as Plastisol architectural cladding, automotive interior trim, ABS plastics, PVC roofing and lorry side curtains. Available in virtually limitless colours and all gloss levels, it can be applied by brush or spray, drying rapidly to a highly durable film and offering outstanding light fastness and colour retention.

HMG Paints is one of few British manufacturers supplying high performance paint products to the UK truck and bus industry and Don-Bur has been a valued customer for many years. Operating from an 18 acre site in Stoke-on-Trent and employing a 420-strong flexible workforce, it styles itself ‘the industry champion’ and generates annual sales in excess of £40 million. Its extensive range of trailers and rigid bodies offers outstanding quality, exceptional vehicle lifespan and maximum value for money.

Don-Bur is the only CV body manufacturer to retain curtain production, printing and GRP moulding in-house, affording it greater control over quality and costs. Located in separate premises nearby, its subsidiary Sapphire Graphics designs and applies vehicle liveries to cabs, bodies and curtain sides, counting such notable brands as John Lewis, Scottish Courage, Hayes Logistics, Argos and B&Q among its customers. It employs a mix of traditional signwriting skills and state-of-the-art technology, including 5m wide inkjet machines and the latest 1440 dpi high resolution printers.

Lettering on the curtain sides is signwritten by hand, using PVC 94, which is applied directly onto the PVC-coated tarpaulins. HMG’s flexible finish adheres strongly to the material and effectively forms part of the side curtain, withstanding abrasions from road grit and weathering, and retaining bright whites and colours for many years.

“Fleet owners like to project a good corporate image, employing their vehicles as mobile billboards,” says Sapphire Graphics’ Production Manager, Lee Leighton. “We’ve been using HMG’s PVC 94 for many years with superb results, particularly regarding durability. The finish is excellent and it applies easily, so it’s just perfect for this demanding graphics application.”

Sapphire Graphics specifies PVC 94 in almost every colour, HMG matching paint shades to specific Pantone references. The distinctive B&Q application uses PVC94 pure white on bright orange trailer curtains and, to date, Sapphire has refurbished 310 existing vehicles and liveried over 200 new units. Thankfully, the B&Q graphics are fairly straightforward in signwriting terms, although even complex designs like Worthington’s Bitter and the previous Kronenbourg logo are workable, thanks to the excellent flow properties and adhesion of HMG Paints’ unique flexible coating.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com