Edward Naylor

• Comment: There are numerous references, but many relate solely to the business, not to Edward Naylor himself, and it is difficult to identify what amounts to significant coverage (in-depth - more than passing mentions, routine reporting, listings, PR output) about Edward Naylor in published reliable independent secondary sources. If the company is separately notable (see WP:ORGCRIT), it might be worth creating a separate article about it, and then focusing more narrowly on Edward Naylor. Paul W (talk) 10:28, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

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Edward George Naylor (born July 1963) is an English chartered accountant and executive chairman at Naylor Industries, a fourth-generation family manufacturing business based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

File:Ed-Naylor-portrait.jpg

Edward took over as chief executive of Naylor Industries in 1993 following the death of his father, Allan Naylor. At the time, the company was a loss-making clay pipe manufacturer with turnover of around £12 million. Under his leadership, the group expanded to seven UK manufacturing sites, with a diversified product range and combined turnover of over £78 million.

Before joining the family business, Naylor studied Modern Languages at the University of Cambridge and worked for Deloitte (formerly Touche Ross & Co) in the City of London. He has also held industry, charity and civic roles, including with the British Ceramic Confederation, the Clay Pipe Development Association, Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, Barnsley FC Community Trust, Barnsley Town Board and the University of York School for Business and Society.

Early life and education

Naylor attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, where he completed O and A Levels, before studying Modern Languages specialising in French and German at St John's College, Cambridge. He later qualified with Deloitte as a double prize-winning chartered accountant.

Family

Naylor's brother is the comedian and playwright Henry Naylor. In 1997, Naylor married Jenny Higham. They have three children together.

Career

Deloitte

Naylor began his career with Deloitte in the City of London, where he worked for eight years in audit, accounting and corporate finance roles, rising to senior manager. His work included Anglo-German business matters, secondments to Deloitte's German offices, and a period as acting finance director for a German client.

Naylor Industries

Naylor Industries was founded in 1890 by George Wilfred Naylor, who established a clay-pipe works near the Denby Dale Viaduct in West Yorkshire. The viaduct had been constructed by his father, George William Naylor, a railway contractor. Clay deposits identified during the viaduct's foundation works provided the raw material for the new business.

In 1993, Naylor returned to the family business and became chief executive of Naylor Industries plc. The company, based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, is a fourth-generation family manufacturing business and was then primarily associated with clay drainage products.

At the time, the company was dependent on clay sewer pipes, a product that was losing market share to plastic alternatives, and was exposed to a UK construction market in recession. It was facing declining sales, seven-figure operating losses and concerns from its bank over debt levels.

Under Edward's leadership, the company diversified beyond clay drainage products into plastic pipes, concrete products, specialist plastics and terracotta garden ware. The group's plastic pipe business later accounted for more than half of group sales, while the Yorkshire Flowerpots division became the UK's largest manufacturer of terracotta garden ware.

The company's history records several developments during Naylor's tenure, including the start of twinwall ducting production in 2000, the acquisition of Tipton Specialist Plastics in 2007, Amco Specialist Plastics in 2013 and White's Concrete in 2016. Further acquisitions and investments followed in the 2020s, including the acquisition of concrete fencing manufacturer Procter in 2020.

In 2017, the Duke of Kent opened a £5 million factory extension at Naylor Industries. The investment was to support production of larger-diameter plastic drainage pipes for infrastructure, agriculture and utilities markets. In 2021, Reuters reported that Naylor Industries was bringing forward more than £10 million of investment in plant and machinery, including extrusion lines and automated pipe equipment, following the introduction of the UK government's super-deduction capital allowance.

By 2023, Naylor Industries employed more than 400 employees and had a turnover of £78 million.

Restructuring and later role

In 2024, Naylor Industries reported what it described as a transformational year. It was the final closure of its clay pipe business and a restructuring of the group into Naylor Drainage Ltd and Naylor Industries Ltd under common ownership.

In 2026, Builders Merchants Journal reported that Naylor Group had been featured on BBC Television's The One Show, with Naylor interviewed about the company's use of artificial intelligence in its plastic pipes business. The report said that since 2024 the company had used AI to optimise lorry loading for a business manufacturing around 30 million metres of pipe a year.

Other roles

Naylor has held roles in industry bodies, charities and civic organisations.

• He was appointed president of the British Ceramic Confederation in 2021 for a two-year term. In 2023, the Confederation announced that Alan McLelland would succeed Naylor as president and that Naylor would remain on the board as deputy president.
• Naylor was a director of the Clay Pipe Development Association from November 1993 until June 2024. The association marked his departure in 2024, describing his tenure as 30 years as a director.
• Naylor has served as a trustee and co-chair of Lighthouse, the Construction Industry Charity. He became a trustee and member of its Audit and Governance Committee in 2016 and became co-chair in March 2020. He has also served as a director of Barnsley FC Community Trust Limited.
• Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council has listed Edward as chair of the Barnsley Town Board. The board was established to draw up a ten-year vision and long-term investment plans for Barnsley under the government programme initially known as the Long-Term Plan for Towns and later described by the council as the Pride in Place programme. The council stated that the programme would bring £19.5 million of government funding to Barnsley over ten years, with the Town Board chaired by Naylor and including representatives from the council, local businesses, cultural organisations and charities.
• In 2026, Naylor was quoted by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in relation to the town centre's seventh consecutive Purple Flag accreditation, with the council describing him as chair of the Barnsley Town Board.
• He is also listed as a member of the advisory board of the University of York School for Business and Society and as an entrepreneur in residence with Connect Yorkshire.

Awards and recognition

Companies in the Naylor group have also received awards during his tenure. Naylor Industries was included in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 list in 2013. That year, it won Deal of the Year (£5m+) at the South Yorkshire Dealmaker Awards for a management buyout of the company, as well as the Made in Yorkshire Exporter of the Year award. Naylor Industries was subsequently named North and Scotland regional winner in the HSBC Global Connections initiative in 2014.

Naylor Drainage won the Outstanding Export Award and the overall Winner of Winners title at the EEF/Aldermore Future Manufacturing Awards in 2015. During the same year, Naylor Industries won the Investment in People Award at the Made in Sheffield Awards, while Naylor was listed as one of The Manufacturer's Top 100 exemplars. The following year, Naylor Industries received a Ruban d'Honneur in the European Business Awards in the Growth Strategy category.

Naylor received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Barnsley and Rotherham Business Awards in 2017, followed by the leadership category at the EEF Future Manufacturing Awards in 2018. Naylor Clayware received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2021, and Naylor Industries won the Family Business of the Year Award at the Connect Yorkshire awards in 2022.

In 2023, Naylor was named Business Leader of the Year at The Yorkshires Business Awards and included in the Builders Merchants Federation's inaugural Top 100 Supplier Influencers list. Naylor Group was named Business of the Year at the Barnsley and Rotherham Business Awards in 2025, after also winning the Large Business of the Year category. Later that year, Connect Yorkshire named Naylor Group Large Business of the Year. He won the Company Leader (101+ employees) category at the Yorkshire Leadership Awards in 2026.

References

This article "Edward Naylor" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Edward Naylor. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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