Electrical services firm sparks growth with move to new premises
An electrical and building services business has completed its relocation to new premises in order to sustain long-term growth ambitions.
GB Electrical and Building Services has occupied a 20,000 sq ft unit on Skylon Park at the Hereford Enterprise Zone.
The firm’s relocation from its city centre site in Portland Street to the purpose-built facility is a major landmark for the company, which was started by husband and wife Terry and Sue Pickering in 1991.
It employs nearly 170 staff with a turnover in excess of £10m per year, serving domestic, commercial and public sector customers and is now owned by the UK’s biggest name in electrical vehicle charging, Chargemaster.
The new premises at Skylon Park provide offices, a stores facility and the bespoke joinery division of the business and are double the size of its previous home.
Mr Pickering said: “We had vastly outgrown our former home and the Enterprise Zone was the ideal location for us.
“As a local business employing local people and sub contractors and, with an established supply chain, we were keen to stay in Hereford so we worked closely with the team at the Enterprise Zone to develop a footprint for the future that suits our business and underpins our plans for growth, which includes recruiting more staff.”
Chairman of the Enterprise Zone Board, Bill Jackson, said: “GB Electrical and Building Services is a fine example of a local business success story and we are delighted the Enterprise Zone has been able to provide a place for it to grow and thrive.
“This latest investment illustrates the flexibility that the Enterprise Zone can offer businesses to create their own vision for their future.”
Skylon Park is the 72-hectare site designated as the Enterprise Zone of The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership.
Businesses moving onto Skylon Park benefit from a range of EZ incentives including simplified and free planning, superfast and ultrafast broadband and business rates relief.
GB Electrical and Building Services’ new premises were officially opened during a visit to Skylon Park by Hereford and South Herefordshire MP, Jesse Norman.
Mr Norman, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Transport, and a former Business Minister, said: “The opening is an absolutely fantastic boost, not just for GB Electricals with their new facility, but also for the Enterprise Zone and for Hereford and Herefordshire.
“It shows that actually businesses are growing incredibly fast in this county and shows the success of the Enterprise Zone. I came here with David Cameron a few years ago and it was a completely empty, flat site and now it is a booming bustling zone full of new enterprises generating a lot of new jobs.”
