FEATURE
Hailing from the banks of the Humber, Arco is an industry staple in the north of England. The company has come a long way since it started making tennis balls in 1884 and, today, it’s on a mission to stamp its mark on the south – a campaign that Arco has kicked off in style with its latest brand partnership in the capital.
“The first point was to find a partnership with a very visible, iconic feature in the south of England,” explained Thomas Martin, Arco’s joint managing director. “The second thing was to find a company that cared, that had a conscience, and that really fitted with our own core values and our own reason for existence – which is to keep people safe at work.”
Arco ticked both of these boxes in February when it signed an agreement with AEG Europe to become the Official Equipment Supplier for The O2 and Up at The O2. “Why are we doing it?” said Thomas. “Because both partners feel that we can make a huge difference to the customer bases that we’re targeting.”
Visitors to Up at The O2, the 90-minute climb with 360-degree panoramic views across the capital, will be decked in bespoke Arco harnesses, clothing and footwear. Staff at The O2 will also have access to Arco’s experts who can provide practical advice, products and safety training. But Thomas emphasised that the deal is very much a two-way street.
The frontline staff who are responsible for making sure the public climb up and down The O2 safely have essentially become brand ambassadors for Arco: “They ooze responsibility and care for the people who are on site at The O2 and you can’t get a better partnership than that.”
For Arco, this high profile relationship is already leading the way to new projects in the south. The operator of Up at The O2, Wire & Sky, recently called on the team’s expertise on the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Olympic Park. Plus, Arco’s rope access and fall protection division, Total Access, has been able to build on an existing relationship with the London Fire Brigade, for whom it provides rescue support on the London Eye.
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However, Arco does not only invest in partnerships with commercial enterprises and organisations. “Trying to help and educate the next generation of Arco employees and the next generation of Arco customers and using some of our profits to try and make a difference where people need a bit of support is very important to us,” said Thomas.
One venture that Arco is involved in is the BLOODHOUND project, an ‘engineering adventure’ to build a car that can set a World Land Speed Record of 1000mph. Arco is the exclusive supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the BLOODHOUND team, but it has also embraced the main objective of the project – to inspire the next generation’s passion for STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
Around 48 members of the Arco team work as BLOODHOUND Ambassadors and, to date, they have visited over 6,000 schools in the UK to promote the project and the academic disciplines that underpin it to around 40,000 young people. Why is Arco so passionate about this initiative? Health and safety companies need engineers to invent the latest super material and design the safest products. For Thomas Martin, though, the project’s aim helps to solve a wider industry problem:
“We need to address the issue of a rapidly ageing population of engineers in the UK. We’re not putting enough people in at the bottom to cope with the expertise which is leaving when people retire at the top. That’s what all this is about.
“The way this is being bought into on a global basis is probably this country’s NASA moment as you saw in America in the late 60s and early 70s with the Apollo programme. They had a massive increase in people wanting to be engineers – now it’s happening in the UK.”
Arco also invests time and money in its hometown of Hull. Thomas points out that Hull does not score highly in national league tables of education or attainment, so Arco partnered with Teach First to fund 12 teachers to work in local communities to help raise standards and aspirations.
Thomas Martin, Arco's Joint Managing Director.
“WE RUN THE COMPANY TO TAKE THE BEST PRINCIPLES OF FAMILY OWNERSHIP AND THE BEST FROM PLC GOVERNANCE WITHOUT HAVING ALL THE RED TAPE HANGING AROUND OUR NECKS.”
In a similar vein, the company supports a Humber-based initiative called CatZero, which works with young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs) to equip them for a more prosperous life. “There are some really scary stats that if you’re a NEET, you’ve probably got a 50% chance of being dead and not making it to 27 or 28. That’s a horrendous statistic. What we’re trying to do is support this fabulous programme locally, which is getting about 68-69% of NEETs back into work.”
As with any business, Arco can only devote resources to community projects as long as it is successful: “The more profitable we are the more of this stuff we can do. It’s fundamental to the way we approach this business,” said Thomas. “Arco exists to keep people safe – to make sure people go home at the end of the
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