Norpe Saunas UK is a leading supplier of home, garden, infrared, diy and commercial saunas.
Norpe
is a family business which began by supplying top quality Finnish
saunas at competitive prices in 1968. This philosophy still applies
today, with our Helo saunas being superbly built from 75mm (3") thick
spruce panelling walls and abachi wood sauna furniture and fittings.
This extra thickness provides increased sauna strength and superior
insulation properties, bringing valuable long-term cost benefits.
The purpose of this page is to provide a brief history one of the oldest and founder companies of the sauna industry in the UK.
Norpe Saunas was founded by my father, Gordon Huntington, in
1967. Having an excellent track record for selling in the sports and
leisure industries, he was noticed and approached by Norpe Oy of
Finland, who were seeking a sole agent for their range of panel saunas
in the UK.
An agreement was reached and the company established. It was
originally based at Cleeve Prior, near Evesham and the first office was
at our home in a hurriedly converted coal shed.
I can remember the excitement when the first Norpe sauna
arrived from Finland. It was installed outside in a secluded corner at
the back of our home and looked a little like The Tardis. From there we
had to scamper backwards and forwards from the shower to enjoy the
sauna.
In the meantime, some saunas were ordered for stock and these
arrived in containers from Finland. The saunas were packaged in large
and extremely heavy cardboard boxes which were stored in the old
village hall at Bidford on Avon.
The next step was to find some customers and with this in mind
a stand was booked at the Ideal Home Show in March 1968. Contacts were
made and mailing shots initiated and very soon orders for saunas began
to arrive.
There was a lot of interest in sauna in the media and
particularly in television. To increase the interest, the sauna from
our home was dismantled and rebuilt in the BBC studios for the Blue
Peter programme and a slot on The David Jacobs Show followed soon
afterwards.
One of the initial hurdles was that many customers required
something different from the standard Norpe manufactured sizes and
finishes and so an agreement was reached with a local firm of joiners
to make custom built saunas for us.
A lot of interest was shown by football clubs and race tracks
and Norpe had early successes with Cheltenham Racecourse and Nottingham
Forest Football Club where my father met the late Brian Clough.
Local Authorities were also keen and Norpe’s largest order at
the time was received for the GLC’s Picketts Lock Centre at Edmonton,
where two large public saunas were installed.
Further shows were booked including The Boat Show, The Royal
Agricultural Show and many other regional agricultural shows. To
assist, Norpe commissioned the installation of a sauna bath and shower
cubicle into a caravan which then featured at many of these.
The amount of business increased substantially as Norpe Saunas
quickly became one of the leading sauna companies in the country. As a
result, the business was moved to a new facility in Badsey, near
Evesham, in the early seventies. This brought the manufacturing,
warehousing, an office and eventually a showroom together at one
premises for the first time.
It was at this time that I started to become involved with the
business. Each Saturday, I would get up early to join the factory team
in making saunas. I can remember producing walling and roofing panels,
sauna benches, duckboards and even the sliding shutter known as the
“hit and miss”. Occasionally, I would also go on installations, or make
deliveries.
Around this time, a sauna chalet was installed at our home in
Cleeve Prior. This had a sauna room, a shower room and a large living
room and was used to show potential customers and also for them to try
if they wanted to.
In the late seventies Norpe also began to enter the solarium
and sunbed markets and numerous sales were made to private individuals,
salons and local authorities.
In the early eighties I joined the company for a year as
General Manager. However, it was a time of recession and sales were
slow. I can remember that we were over stocked at that time and had to
make some important sales to reduce the amount of money tied up. It was
also a time when we became agents for Sunal of Germany, who
manufactured aluminium 24 tube sunbeds suitable for home and
particularly salon use. I was not long enough with the company, but
later learned that these products linked ideally with saunas for
commercial use and the company reaped the benefit of many large
commercial sales over the following years.
By the mid-eighties, my father had reached retirement age and
my sister Jayne and her husband took over the company. They moved the
sauna business to Childswickham, near Broadway and continued
successfully from there. They had several good years, until the early
nineties, when recession returned. Unfortunately, their relationship
suffered too. Ultimately they split up, with my sister retaining the
company.
At this stage, the saunas were once again sub-contracted out
for manufacture. However, the company declined further over the ensuing
years. So much so that the sauna sub-contractor then, unfortunately,
went out of business.
Norpe needed a sauna a supplier and quickly teamed up with
Helo, who had a similar reputation for supplying quality saunas. We
knew them well, as they had been supplying Norpe with sauna heaters for
many years.
By 2002, Jayne had decided to move her career away from the
sauna business and offered the company to me. It appealed to me because
it is a straight forward business and I was interested in the internet
as a possible avenue for sales. Norpe had developed a useful website.
However, it was not being found by potential customers and this is
where the engine of the recovery of the business began.
In 2006, we successfully introduced the Norpe Helo "Premium
Line" range of Far Infrared domestic saunas and as a result of changes
of ownwership amongst our competitors, have become the oldest
established family run sauna company in the UK. My father is delighted.
Norpe Saunas continues to flourish and is now a main and
leading agent for Helo Sauna & Steam in the UK. As a result we have
also expanded successfully into steam rooms, steam generators and
Artena steam showers and bathroom spas from the Helo range of products.
Updated by Bob Huntington, February 2007.
