Alstons Building Enterprices Limited (ABEL). For thousands of years, man has used clay in construction. Beginning with the simple adobe bricks, and advancing over time to the use of hollow core clay blocks, clay has proven itself worthy of its role in the development of modern civilization. It is therefore ironic that up to sixty years ago, clay was a virtual stranger to construction in Trinidad & Tobago.
Enter Harold Eckel and William Arehart, who with the financial backing of Alfred Alstons capitalized upon the vast clay reserves situated at Longdenville, and changed the face of local construction forever. Trinidad Clay Products (TCP) as it was known then, was a pioneer in an industry that heretofore relied on wood for its basic building needs. Since that time however, Alston’s Building Enterprises Limited (ABEL) as it has come to be known, has won over the hearts of entire generations of builders who today swear by the advantages of building with clay.
Early method of transporting clay from the mine to the factory.
The coming of clay and ABEL has also meant the transformation of Longdenville from the declining agricultural community to prosperous manufacturing one through the employment of successive generations first in its clay operations, and more recently in the manufacture of steel and aluminium windows and doors under its Metpro brand name.
For the community was certainly in decline six decades ago when TCP first began its operations just north of Longdenville stop on the railway line running to Rio Claro. Today, its address, Depot Road, serves as a reminder of its past and to the significance that its proximity to that railway played in its success.
But aside from the vast reserves of clay, and the convenience of the nearby rail station, it is the commitment, and often the ingenuity of the people of Longdenville which serves as the backbone of ABEL’s continued prosperity. In the early days, both men and women mined the clay pits with pick axes and wheel barrows. Back then, blocks were dried and fired in two stone beehive kilns each thirty-two feet in diameter, (both structures still exist today), with a total capacity of 9000 blocks a week.
Fresh from the beehive kiln.
In time, a small railway was built to transport clay, and the pick axes gave way to dragline cranes and hydraulic excavators. The beehive kilns gave way to the more modern continuous tunnel kilns, and with this latest expansion, ABEL will be producing over two million clay products each month.
During the last sixty years, clay’s popularity has also grown. Spurred on by an aggressive campaign, TCP built sample houses throughout Trinidad and offered free training to masons in clay construction.
Although these actions had some success, it was in fact the large demand for building products brought on by the construction of the American bases at Chaguaramas and Wallerfield, which inadvertently caused clay’s popularity to soar.
View of ABEL's Factory in the 1950's.
In 1994, ABEL was grouped with Bestcrete – a company that has long been the first name in concrete building products. Together they are the largest manufacturer of building supplies in the southern Caribbean, exporting products to such markets as Guyana, Grenada, St. Lucia, Antigua and Jamaica.
Still, ABEL remains at the heart of Longdenville. Apart from being the largest employer, in central Trinidad, ABEL also contributes to the community both directly and indirectly through its commerce with corporate neighbours, and as a benefactor to the Jaya Laxmi Children’s Home, the Longdenville Claytones steel orchestra, and the Kendra Phagwa Festival. As for the future, ABEL remains committed to the continued development and prosperity of the community that it fondly calls home.
Late PM, Dr. Eric Williams examines a decorative block straight off the production line.
ABEL/Bestcrete consistently continues to grow, innovate and improve. In November 2001, ISO 9002 Certification was achieved for the range of ABEL clay and Bestcrete products and Metpro windows and doors. ISO certification provides customers, both locally and in the export market with the assurance that the company is managing the systems around which the products are made, thereby providing products of a consistent quality.
Additionally, it also provides ABEL / Bestcrete with a competitive edge in its quest to gain greater export market penetration.