3P Technik UK Ltd and Celtic Sustainables Ltd have transitioned to employee ownership under a newly formed Employee Ownership Trust, now operating as Celtic House Holdings Limited; founder and managing director Glyn Hyett transferred his shares to the EOT, with Hyett remaining in the business to lead knowledge transfer and three senior managers appointed as new directors.

3P Technik UK Ltd (Companies House no. 05502034) is a Cardigan, Ceredigion-based stormwater treatment and rainwater harvesting specialist, established in 2000 and relocating from Cardiff to Cardigan in 2005.

Celtic Sustainables Ltd (Companies House no. 04071622), established in 2008, distributes sustainable building products including natural paints, sheep wool and hemp insulation and rainwater harvesting systems. Both companies operate from a shared factory unit at Parc Teifi Business Park, employing 17 people; the combined group has employed more than 50 local people since 2005. 

The structural driver is the UK EOT succession model's tax efficiency making it commercially attractive relative to a trade sale at valuation levels available to micro-businesses in niche technical sectors. EOT transfers are exempt from Capital Gains Tax on the sale of a controlling interest, reducing the cost of founder exit relative to a third-party sale while preserving operational continuity. 

For Hyett, who explicitly rejected a trade sale on the grounds that a buyer would likely relocate jobs from Ceredigion, the EOT provided the mechanism to realise value while enforcing the community retention outcome. The number of UK employee-owned businesses has grown from approximately 470 in 2020 to more than 1,700 in 2026, with Wales disproportionately represented given Cwmpas's active government-funded support infrastructure.

The sector context reinforces the timing. 3P Technik UK operates in the stormwater management and rainwater harvesting market experiencing growing demand from AMP8-driven utilities procurement, sustainable drainage requirements in planning policy and Net Zero building standards, all generating durable demand for SME technical specialists in the water sector.

For the sector, the Celtic House EOT demonstrates that employee ownership is increasingly viable for sub-20-person technical specialists in regulated construction and water infrastructure markets, not just professional services firms.

Source: watermagazine.co.uk / jcpsolicitors.co.uk / find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk / gov.wales