ABOUT US
Company History
Mr Thomas Aitken & Mr
Gilmour founded the business at 10 Stanley Street, Glasgow mainly as Mahogany and merchants to the newl established shipbuilding Industry on the River Clyde.
The move included an investment in a new electrically driven
sawmill. Trade was
mainly still with the shipyards.
As specialists in Teak, Mahogany and other Hardwoods Gilmour &
Aitken Supplied John
Brown & Co timber for joinery work of the Cunard White Star Liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
During WW2 timber was
rationed ov the ministr however Gilmour & Aitken continued to supply hardwoods to the ship and boat yards who were then building wooden Motor Torpedo Boats.
Following the war Gilmour & Aitken Ltd supplied hardwoods to an accelerated programme of 'Ton Class' wooden coastal minesweepers for the British Fleet following WW2.
Gilmour & Aitken supplied African Mahogany hull planking for the British Challenger to the Americas Cup. This is believed to be the only UK challenger still
sailing in British waters
The new site gave the company the space to expand at pace and as the business grew. New kilns were installed to further increase the company's capabilities.
Aitken & Howard was founded in 1977 to trade in Guyanese timbers, principally Greenheart. It is part of the Gilmour and Aitken family business that has been in existence for over 150 years.
The company set up a home wood milland greatly increased capacity with a more recent addition of an automatic band mill and 36" planer.
Export market grows to the Arabian Gulf, China, Spain, Ireland and the Caribbean where speciality marine products and expertise are in high demand.
This allowed the team to
handle me growing demand for marine constructional timbers in the South of England.
With ongoing strong commitment to quality and sustainability under the control of the Aitken family.
Gilmour and Aitken Ltd is a leading UK timber business, a family business since 1852. In its 5th Generation the business is proud of its depth of product knowledge and extensive stock holdings.
Thomas Aitken was born in Greenock in 1822. His early career was spent working in the timber trade in Liverpool and on his return to Glasgow in 1852, he and his business partner, Mr Gilmour, founded a timber importing business. Their new company, Gilmour and Aitken, traded in the quality hardwoods demanded by the booming ship building industry on the River Clyde.
Spotting an opportunity, the company established a saw mill specialising in long mahogany logs (12m and over) for the yacht building industry which also had a firm hold on the River Clyde. Their expertise meant that they were chosen to supply the timber for one of the challenger yachts, Sceptre, for the prestigious America’s Cup matches.
The company traded successfully from its base at Forth Street, Glasgow for many years, even managing to survive both World Wars and the Great Depression. After World War II, Mr Alexander Cameron Aitken’s son Thomas took over and focussed on growing the business. By 1970, when Thomas’s sons, Thomas and Cameron were ready to take the reins, business was brisk and the single acre site at Forth Street was becoming too small.
In 1976 the company moved to a 15 acre site in Alexandria, 15 miles West of Glasgow. The new site gave the company the space to expand at pace and as the business grew, new kilns were installed to further increase the company’s capabilities.
The following year saw the establishment of the Aitken & Howard business division of Gilmour and Aitken to trade exclusively in Guyanese Greenheart and this focus resulted in the company quickly gaining an enviable reputation as a leading supplier for major civil engineering projects in both the UK and international markets.
In 1979 the company set up a home wood mill and greatly increased capacity with a more recent addition of an automatic band mill. A 36″ planer was also installed helping the hugely experienced team to machine hardwood timbers to very precise tolerances for the oil & gas, heavy construction, marine and timber fabrication industries.
To further enhance Gilmour & Aitken’s ability to service its broad and growing range of customers, there have been several major investments since the 1990s. With the purchase of adjacent land, the overall size of the yard has grown to 17 acres to allow significant increases to undercover storage capacity.
Gilmour & Aitken has grown in a sustainable way for well over 150 years. The current Directors are committed to continuing this trend by ensuring plans run parallel to industry developments and customer needs and expectations.
