Who is james hardie

Customize this Site. Enter your zip code. Enter Zip Code Share Save Idea. Make your dream home a reality. Connect With Contractors. Meet the Industry Leader. Find Siding Ideas. Hardie retired in and sold his half of the company to Reid, whose family led the expanding business from until , when his grandson John B. Reid retired. Today, James Hardie is a world leading manufacturer of premium building products.

It is the preeminent manufacturer of fiber cement products, having pioneered the technology in the s, and a leader in fiber gypsum products through its ownership of Germany-based Fermacell, which it acquired in Customize this Site Together with his partner, Andrew Reid, who had also immigrated from Scotland, he set up a building materials business, which was run by the Reid family until after James Hardie retired.

The company went public on the Australian Stock Exchange in and in the years that followed it expanded its portfolio to include numerous new construction and industrial products. Thanks to the technical and manufacturing know-how built up in Australia, the company is now a leading global manufacturer of high-tech building materials, with a wide range of solutions for both interior and exterior wall cladding applications.

A wide range of products for bulkheads, fire protection coatings and fire protection joints is also available under the brand. Hardie soon enjoyed the confidence of Melbourne's leading tanners. He was honorary secretary of the revived Master Tanners' and Curriers' Master Tanners' and Leather Manufacturers' Association of Victoria, which held its meetings in his Flinders Lane office. From to he campaigned among butchers and woolbrokers to improve the flaying and branding of hides, and he initiated the intercolonial conference of Australian tanners that framed tariff recommendations for the industry.

Hardie's disagreement with some of the recommendations caused his resignation as association secretary, but he joined its executive and was later honorary treasurer. His business survived the s depression and prospered, partly because in he recruited Reid as his salesman. Junior partner from and owner of a half share from , Reid set up the Sydney office in