Chord tunes up for office move
Nottingham mechanical and electrical design consultancy Chord Consult is set to relocate in the city.
The company will move into new offices in Bridlesmith Gate in the city, TheBusinessDesk.com understands.
The move comes as Chord Consult celebrates a year in business.
Director Matt Wrate told TheBusinessDesk.com: “It’s been such an exciting journey – hard work, but great fun.
“Seeing our client base grow steadily has been so rewarding. But the best part of our growth has been the staff. Old friends, and now new friends, putting their faith in us has been the best reward. We now have 20 full time staff, with further talks on-going in the summer transfer window – watch this space.
“As a new company, our board meetings are generally harmonious. We have two simple decision drivers: if its right for our clients, and right for our staff, then we’ll do it. This symphonic ethos really simplifies our business and seems to a key factor driving our growth.”
Electrical engineer Jack Pascoe added: “We’re all looking forward to our first birthday party in a couple of weeks. There are close to 200 of our clients and allies coming to Binks Yard for the celebration, so that’s going to be a landmark in the journey.
“The Nottingham office move is planned for the same time too, which is also really exciting. While Leonard Design Architects have been the best landlords you could imagine, we’re moving right into the centre of the city, on Bridlesmith Gate. It’s such a vibrant and developing street, so it feels right in tune with the character of Chord.”
Chord’s growth has already gone beyond the East Midlands. Director Jim Frisby now fronts its Milton Keynes office, which opened in January. He said: “We’re already establishing some great clients in the area, and we’ve just appointed a full time engineer who will join the team in July, so we’re hopefully striking the right notes down here too.”
Director Alex Jones added: “One of our biggest clients, and strongest allies, has been McLaren Property, who we’re now working with on the design of – literally – thousands of PBSA beds. McLaren have a huge focus on delivering quality, and they highly valued the strong historic relationships our team had with them. It’s also great to see the sector buzzing again, after stalling for a few weeks last Autumn.”
Mechanical engineer Angelina Stankovic was one of Chord first employees, joining the symphony in June last year.
She said: “It’s been fantastic to feel so involved in the journey so far. The investment in IT equipment has been impressive, and despite these start-up costs we’ve still done really well financially. The directors give a share of the profit back to the staff, and to end year 1 we’re all getting a significant summer bonus.”
Director Ash Cowdrey told us: “We obviously had to be very focused on cashflow over the first few months, but our clients were aware of our position and they’ve been wonderful in ensuring timely payments.
“For example, in our first week we secured a great opportunity for Charles Street Building Group – a Leicester based development company. One of our very first invoices went to CSB on a sunny Friday afternoon at midday… and it was paid by the end of the day. We were all in the pub when the cash landed – that turned into a late night!
“Since then, the close relationship we’re continuing to develop with CSB has been amazing, and we’re now working on a wide range of projects for them all over the UK. A great example of the long-term relationships we’re aspiring to build on as our growing band marches noisily into year two. Exciting times ahead!”
