Vax invests £1m in new R&D lab in Birmingham city centre

VACUUM cleaner manufacturer Vax is building new R&D facilities at its Birmingham city centre HQ to house a team of over 50 engineers.

The state-of-the-art R&D laboratories and product development workshops will be sited at its 2 Colmore Square offices.

The facilities will house more than 50 engineers and scientists working on a range of development projects to improve the performance of Vax’s vacuum cleaner, steam cleaner and carpet washer ranges and to create new designs.

These new projects will focus on developing innovative machines that are bagless, cordless, lightweight and highly efficient.

Due for completion in September, the R&D lab development is the latest phase of Vax’s UK expansion and follows the opening of a purpose-built 231,420 sq ft storage and distribution centre at Stonebridge Cross in Worcestershire in August.

Together the two sites accommodate a workforce that has doubled in size in the past three years in parallel with growth in market share.

During this time Vax significantly increased its investment in R&D, created new engineering roles and expanded the size of the product development team by 150%.

James Holdgate, Vax head of new product development, said: “As Britain’s best-selling floorcare brand and a leading designer of floorcare products for our customers around the globe, Vax is committed to listening to their needs and doing everything we can to meet their demand for ever-better performance, usability and value.
  
“These advances can only be made through the application of the very latest technologies.

“Upgrading our R&D facilities will enable us to develop new products that exceed our customers’ every expectation.”

The company is currently recruiting for a range of graduate and non-graduate roles and aims to add more than a hundred more R&D engineers and designers to its workforce within the next three years.