Historic firm completes three-way site merger
One of the country’s oldest air pollution control companies is moving into its second century in a new headquarters after completing a three-way site merger.
Lodge Cottrell has brought together its three operations in Halesowen, Cradley Heath and Burton upon Trent under one roof at Unit 2 Sandwell Green in Oldbury.
With more than 10,000 sq ft of space split 50-50 between warehousing and offices the unit provides a central base.
Lodge Cottrell has been supplying environmental air pollution control equipment for more than a century, serving power generators and other industries, with more than 4,500 installations worldwide.
Led by managing director Kevin Bridgewater, the company employs a core team of 35, expanding to as many as 200 agency staff during peak periods.
Bridgewater said: “Due to market forces and how the company has evolved and diversified over several years, we decided to take a golden opportunity and source a larger, suitably configured base for our various activities.
“We are delighted to announce that with immediate effect we have consolidated our various operations and are now under one roof in our new premises at 2 Wharfside.”
He added: “We had our headquarters in an office block in Halesowen, a site at Burton and warehousing at Old Hill in Cradley Heath. It made sense to bring us all together on one site that would take us into the next 100 years.”
The company has taken a ten year lease on the 10,463 sq ft unit 2 in a £65,000 a year deal brokered by Siddall Jones.
As well as legacy customers in industry and producing energy from coal and fuel oil, the company has expanded into new technologies such as biomass and energy-from-waste.
The Lodge Fume Deposit Company was founded in Birmingham in 1913 by Professor Sir Oliver Lodge, who in 1883 invented the electrostatic precipitation method of removing dust particles still used today. The company name changed to Lodge Cottrell in 1922.
The company is owned and supported by its long-standing parent, KC Green Holdings Co Ltd, a large conglomerate based in South Korea focusing upon its green credentials.
Ed Siddall-Jones, managing director of Siddall Jones, said: “This modern unit on the Sandwell Green industrial estate – part of Oldbury’s wider commercial area – was clearly ideal for Lodge Cottrell’s needs.
“It provides the space to bring together the operations from the three existing sites and will provide the prestigious platform the company needs as it moves into the future, building on its historic past.”
Colliers acted for the landlord of the Sandwell Green unit.
