BSEE


INDUSTRY COMMENT Albion’s Growth Picks Up the Pace


Formed three decades ago employing five people, Albion Valves (UK) Ltd has gone from strength to strength and has built an enviable reputaon amongst some of the UK’s leading manufacturers.


ounded in Barnsley, South Yorkshire as Albion Distribution Ltd, with a team of five, the company now employs over forty people, including three of the original members, and is known as Albion Valves (UK) Ltd after a name change in 2012. The business is privately owned and until recently has been managed day to day by two directors, David Keys and Les Littlewood, who have been responsible for significantly increasing turnover over the last ten years. More recently, Albion has appointed another director, Darren Baxter, who joined the company at 20 years old as a trainee commercial manager.


F Structure for Success


The business operates in two sectors, the building services market and the industrial market. From a commercial perspective, Albion’s ability to empathise with its customers, and their responsiveness to an ever-changing industry has helped them build a reputation as a preferred supply partner. The company has also been quick to reinvest in the business. During 2016, Albion invested significantly into its facility in Barnsley enabling them to increase office space. In 2019, it became apparent that Albion had outgrown its recent expansion and decided to take on the unit next-door to further increase office and warehousing capacity. As well as creating more office space for their ever-growing team and more warehousing space to accommodate their growing range, it has allowed them to introduce new testing facilities and create a brand-new branding room.


The company boasts a comprehensive product range featuring over 5000 lines of commercial valves, suitable for applications predominantly within the building services, process, hydraulic, pneumatic and water industries, which are available to users exclusively from their distribution network. Stock is held in large quantities to enable them to fulfil their promise of next-day delivery to their customers. Their vast stock holding has served


them well through the recent lockdown and has allowed them to continue trading throughout, often supplying important valves directly to essential services, such as, hospitals and food manufacturing plants.


A HighlySkilled Workforce


Albion attributes part of its success to the excellent customer service that it provides, none of which would be possible without their loyal, highly skilled, and consistent workforce. Many of Albion’s employees have been with the company for ten years or more, meaning they have excellent product knowledge and a good understanding of the individual needs of the customers which enables them to provide such a good service.


Albion are always on the lookout for talent to join the team and the recent pandemic has not affected this. In early April, just as many other companies were going into lockdown, Albion decided to employ another member of staff to allow them to provide more concentrated support for contractors and consultants within the industry. They were delighted to welcome Dan Crosswaite into the role of Regional Contracts Manager, with over 15 years’ experience within the industry he brought a wealth of knowledge with him. The Regional Contracts Managers are not the only new roles that have been created at Albion during recent years, in 2019 another brand-new role was created - a Material Scheduler / Estimator - this role was filled by Sanwal Amjed, who had just graduated from university with an engineering degree. Since his appointment, he has proven to be a valuable resource to Albion’s network of distributors and their customers and has allowed Albion’s market leading service levels to be witnessed right down the supply chain. Further to this, Albion are continuing with their commitment to help young people within the community by offering an apprenticeship scheme for the 8th year running. To date they have a 100% track record of turning apprenticeships into full time employment, and all former apprentices are still with the business in full-time employment today. Albion offer apprenticeship schemes in all areas of the business including sales, warehousing, and export.


Moving with the Times


As technology and building requirements are evolving it is having a knock-on effect on the systems being used, how they are being designed and the products used within them. Albion regularly introduce new products to keep their portfolio in line with industry developments, which has seen their range become one of the most comprehensive in the market over recent years, with the introduction of a PN25 range to accommodate the increasing number of high-rise builds and a new public health range. It is becoming increasingly popular for projects to be designed digitally and as such require Building


10 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER OCTOBER 2020


Information Modeling (BIM) components of valves that can be incorporated into the design stage. Albion has all of their core building services products available as BIM components and plan to have more products modelled in the coming months.


The increased demand for BIM components in recent years is due to the governments construction strategy that states the digital build programme will be a primary focus over the coming years. Building specifiers, designers and contractors within the building services sector are frequently using the tools available to digitise the built environment. The uptake of this new technology demonstrates that the industry has recognised the need for a more efficient design, and to assist with this need Albion are now able to offer their building services product range on bimstore, this will improve productivity, reduce waste and costs, not only through the construction phase but for the lifetime of the build. As well as benefits to the construction phase, BIM also offers benefits for maintaining buildings, which include improved awareness of asset locations, especially when it comes to valves and pipework, that are likely to be hidden and not always easily accessible. The asset data allows engineers to determine whether replacement valves are fit for purpose, which will ultimately reduce downtime. Albion’s BIM components are available to download, free of charge, from


www.albionvalvesuk.com/bim/ or the bimstore. Looking ahead


As part of its growth strategy the business has recently founded, and invested in, its export business - Albion Valves (International) Ltd - with the specific focus on the Middle Eastern market. The company now has a UAE-based sales team, including a dedicated Sales Director and a Regional Sales Manager, and has forged new partnerships with distributors in the region to strengthen growth in response to the increasing building services demand.


Due to their large stock holding in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, Albion Valves (International) Ltd is quickly becoming established as a reliable supplier for quality valves throughout the region. The new company will also provide valves to Africa and Southern Asia.


Albion Valves (International) Ltd has also appointed two UK-based staff, one of which, Joshua Parkinson, has been employed as part of an apprenticeship scheme, and is due to gain his qualification shortly. The other, Ryan Moore, has many years’ experience in the export market and will be providing Parkinson with first-class training within a fast-paced environment.


The last 30 years have been hugely successful for Albion and the next 30 years look favourable too, especially with the recent premises expansion, the introduction of new personnel and services which will benefit the whole supply chain, and the opening of their sister company, Albion Valves (International) Ltd. The company is excited for what the future holds.


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