About Us
Welcome to John Newton and Company and our brief overview spanning the last 160 years.
John Newton and Company are a family run business, with a proven history in manufacturing quality produced damp-proofing materials together with good technical service and support. Mr. John Newton established our company in 1848 at Verney Road in South London, where our head office is to this day. Originally a business specialising in the supply of 'plasterer's hair' collected from the local tanneries in the area, John Newton and Company became the largest supplier of 'plasterer's hair' in England.
In the late 1800's the Company diversified and moved into new areas, the main and most successful was hair felt. 
The need for Newton's ‘plasterer's hair’ almost completely died out with the arrival of British Gypsum's plasterboard. John Newton focused on ‘hair felt’ and specifically the manufacture of millions of pads for use on the ever expanding rail network, which only became unnecessary when the continuous weld single piece track was perfected many years later.
On a visit to Germany in 1920 John Newton had seen a corrugated bitumen impregnated fibre board being applied as a damp-proof layer externally to buildings ready for a render to be applied to it. John Newton believed that with slight modification it could be used internally as a DPM or damp-proof membrane that could be plastered onto. He pioneered the Air Gap method of damp-proofing in 1931 with the introduction to the UK of the Newtonite lath membrane. It was fixed to the wall with nails and the corrugations created an air gap between the Newtonite and the wall allowing the wall to breath and moisture to evaporate.
With over 5 million metres of Newtonite installed from the 1930’s to the early 1980’s, it was time for new innovations to
be introduced into the damp proofing industry. John Newton & Company made an approach to a German manufacturer who produced polypropylene dimpled sheeting for external drainage and damp-proofing. It was suggested to them that if a mesh could be attached to the front of the material, this could act as a firm backing for render or plaster and the dimples behind the material would allow the air to flow. Thus the old Newtonite 'ventilated membrane' method would be readopted in a more up-to-date and adaptable material. In 1984 Christopher Newton invented and developed this meshed membrane called Newlath which has led to the current generation of high density studded polypropylene membranes available today.
Newton Systems have continued to develop with Newlath 2000 and Newton 300 Lath now available for all 
damp situations both internally and externally. In addition, our development of the Newton 500 system for below ground waterproofing has revolutionised the industry with new and innovative products being regularly introduced. Being a totally independent Company not tied to one manufacturer, John Newton are able to supply systems using the highest quality materials available anywhere in the world. Whether you are a main contractor, developer, property owner or specifier, we have a dedicated team of Technical Managers that are available for free technical advice. Newton also has an in house CAD design service with the ability to design in all modern drawing formats including 3D modelling.
We highly recommend the Newton Specialist Basement Contractor network who provide peace of mind to the end client by accepting liability on design and installation of our systems. The NSBC network operates throughout the UK and Ireland and can provide budget costings off plan for the installation of Newton Systems.
John Newton have offices in London (Head Office) and just outside Glasgow. Please see the Contact us page for more details.
Before, during and after photographs of a basement conversion for a night club.
