1866
Our company began life in 1866 as a family-owned foundry, manufacturing railway carriages and gas lit lampposts.
Over time the company changed emphasis on the products it manufactured, becoming the leading maker of domestic boilers in the UK with the iconic Baxi Boiler.
1983
After many years of research on fairer alternatives to the family-owned model, Philip Baxendale – whose great grandfather had started the business – took the company into employee trust ownership in 1983 enabling employees to share in wealth creation, participation and fulfilment from working in the company of their fellow owners.
Philip believed that innovation and reinvestment, which would benefit subsequent generations of employee owners, was essential to ensure that the business was stronger than when he joined it. The principles of share ownership and capital growth underpinned his thinking about giving a financial return to the current generation of owners whilst building stronger foundations for future employees.
The Trust Deed which Philip put so much care into writing specifically made future employees beneficiaries of the trust so that it was always clear that the company should not be run solely for the benefit of the current generation.
2000
In 2000, having sold its manufacturing activities, the company developed into a capital fund and consultancy service called Baxi Partnership specialising in supporting mutual and employee ownership, carrying on the vision of Philip Baxendale; and it is from this consultancy that Baxendale Employee Ownership was born.
In the same year, the original Trust Deed was strengthened and enshrined in perpetuity by The Baxi Partnership Trusts Act 2000. To our knowledge, Baxi Partnership Limited is the only employee-owned company in the UK whose formation and aims are underlined by an Act of Parliament created solely for that purpose.
2019
The awareness and popularity of Employee Ownership grew significantly in the UK following introduction of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) in 2014. Our team grew in size and impact along with this increased interest and demand.
Having operated as part of the broader Baxi Partnership / Baxendale Advisory consultancy for many years, in 2019, with our specialist employee ownership team growing rapidly, we decided to form Baxendale Employee Ownership Limited and operate separately going forward.
Baxi Partnership remains a shareholder in our business, but our majority owner is now the trustee of our own trust – the Baxendale Employee Ownership Trust – that holds our shares for the benefit of our current and future employees.
We keep Philip Baxendale’s legacy with us on our journey, and are proud of our over 40 years of employee ownership and employee owned story.
Today
We believe in employee ownership as the best sustainable long term solution to ownership succession and we believe that employees should be enabled to have a real voice in the organisations they work in and share in the wealth that they help create.
The support and advice we provide other businesses to enable them to become independently employee owned sees hundreds of companies being able to protect their independence, culture, and identity; and thousands of employees benefiting from the opportunity to contribute to and engage with their companies as owners.
We are employee owners working together.