MWA Technology strengthens team
Independent metering specialist, MWA Technology, has appointed Paula Gair ACA, as financial controller.
Paula Gair
Continued growth at MWA has seen the need to add an experienced chartered accountant to the management team and Ms Gair, with over 15 years experience in public practice, has taken on the role.” Reporting directly to managing director, Martin Wardell, Ms Gair is delighted about her new position.
“MWA Technology has rapidly established itself as a major player in the supply of meters and the company’s reputation is spreading. It is an exciting time to be getting involved as the company continues to gear itself for expansion into existing and new markets.” Martin Wardell commented: “We were looking for a bright and experienced accountant that could fit in with our ambitious plans and Paula fits the bill perfectly.”
www.mwatechnology.com Email:
info@mwatechnology.com
Pinnacle award for GEZE’s glass guru
The 2010 prize for the best all-round student in the architectural ironmongery industry has been awarded to GEZE UK’s Cheryl Flinders.
Despite not actually working as an architectural ironmonger, Cheryl’s dedicated approach to the challenging GAI Diploma has been rewarded at the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers’ Education Awards Lunch held in London, where she scooped the Pinnacle Award for achieving the best aggregate score over three years. She also won the GAI Gold Medal, presented to the top student in the final year of the programme.
Cheryl already has ten years’ industry experience and is committed to widening her knowledge and skills. As well as working full time as the glass sales manager for the UK’s leading manufacturer of door and window control systems, Cheryl has also completed three years of study in her spare time to gain the acclaimed GAI Diploma.
GEZE UK’s managing director and President of the GAI, Andrew Hall, commented: “This is a fantastic
L to R: Rugby star Austin Healey, GEZE’s Cheryl Flinders, GEZE’s MD Andrew Hall and Union Architectural Hardware MD David Wigglesworth
recognition by the industry of Cheryl’s consistent success throughout the three year study programme and a wonderful way to complete the Diploma. As a company, we are committed to training and I’m delighted that she has done so well, and is now a qualified Architectural Ironmonger.”
Cheryl Flinders added: “It’s been a lot of work over the last three years, but I have always given it my best and I can’t believe I’ve finished top of the class. I have been working really hard to become a qualified architectural ironmonger so to be awarded the Pinnacle Award as well, is just amazing. I’m sure that my Diploma will help me enormously at GEZE UK, where I can now better understand the breadth of our customers’ responsibilities and knowledge and I hope that means I will be able to assist them further in the future.” Email:
info.uk@
geze.com www.geze.co.uk
Bbi celebrates 21st anniversary
Wales-based facilities support specialist, Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi), is celebrating 21 years in business this month as the company continues to trade successfully despite the economic downturn.
Founder and executive chairman, Andy Graham, established Bbi in 1989 after abandoning life as a tobacco farmer in Zimbabwe to move to Wales. Since setting up the business in the Welsh market town of Brecon, the company has flourished and now has three offices across the UK, employing 57 staff with a turnover of £16m.
A limited company with five equal shareholders, Bbi provides facilities support services, including interior design, space planning, mechanical and electrical design and project management, to a range of top- end clients including Balfour Beatty Workplace, SunGard, Mitel, Welsh Water and the Welsh Rugby Union,.
Andy Graham said: “This is a significant milestone for the company and gives us a chance to reflect on what we have achieved over the past 21 years. “I arrived in Wales, from a troubled Zimbabwe, with pretty much the clothes I stood up in with and a young family to support. However, I immediately felt at
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home here and decided it was the perfect place to start afresh.”
Andy Graham gained his experience working ‘on the tools’ for a fitout company for two years before establishing Bbi. It had a number of early wins that have helped establish it going forward. A low-value contract to supply cupboards to Capita ended up with it becoming one of Bbi’s most long-standing clients, commissioning project work of approximately £1 million a year over a 10 year period.
Bbi’s first £1 million contract came a decade after establishing with Zurich Financial Services, which was followed by a second £1 million project in 2000 with Computershare.
The company has been self-financing from the start and has grown steadily by building long-term relationships with clients that encourages loyalty and repeat business. The Lloyds Banking Group, which was among its first clients in 1989, remains a client 21 years later.
This organic growth led to the opening of the Leeds office in 2002 to service clients in the north of England, while the company acquired Gloucester-based PJ Engineering, later to become PJE Solutions, in 2003 to consolidate its in-house mechanical and electrical offering.
Not limited to simply servicing the clients in the immediate area of its three offices, Bbi has also installed
furniture in Denver, Chicago and New Jersey for Computershare and has provided fit-out and furniture for Mitel in Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid and Brussels. Today, 25% of its work comes from clients in London.
The company continues to go from strength-to-strength, despite the tough trading conditions, as Andy Graham explains: “It can’t be denied that it has been a harsh couple of years – and I don’t think we are out of the woods just yet. “However, we are more than holding
our own. This financial year, we came in with an order book of £4 million and picked up £2.5 million of work in just the first two months. At the end of the day, we are passionate and committed about what we do and that comes through in the service that we provide our clients. They, in turn, are confident in our integrity and ability to deliver innovative solutions. This relationship, at the heart of the business, is what makes it tick.”
www.bbi-uk.com
Building & Facilities Management – December 2010/January 2011
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