A leading North East civil engineering firm is starting the new financial year with a new business structure designed to position the company for further growth; and the biggest pipeline of orders in its history.
The North Tyneside headquartered Owen Pugh Group, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary year, has established Owen Pugh Civil Engineering and Owen Pugh Services as divisions to incorporate all of the company’s civil engineering operations and associated services. The reorganisation is designed to streamline and more effectively communicate the full scope of Owen Pugh’s businesses, and to improve customer service across its operations.
Owen Pugh GDC Ltd will be renamed Owen Pugh Civil Engineering Ltd and will undertake main contract civil engineering work as well as substructure and drainage, bulk earthworks and demolition.
Meanwhile the Owen Pugh Services division will comprise the current businesses of Marsden Quarry based Owen Pugh Aggregates, OPAL Testing Services, Owen Pugh Drain Services, Owen Pugh Training Services and Owen Pugh & Company Ltd, which is responsible for plant hire and haulage. Each of the five businesses will continue to operate as individual entities under the new banner.
John Dickson, chairman of the Owen Pugh Group, said: “The success of the Owen Pugh Group since its foundation in 1946 has been based upon continual development in our people, products and services. Now, in our 70th year we have embarked on a reorganisation which has been designed to realign our contracting businesses both internally and externally, to work more efficiently and effectively, and ultimately to provide a better service for our customers.
“The group has several operating businesses, however the two delivery divisions Services and Civil Engineering will help us not only to communicate more clearly the full breadth of the Owen Pugh service to existing and potential customers, it will ensure that our separate operating arms work together seamlessly.”
The move comes as Owen Pugh starts the new financial year with its biggest order book since its formation in 1946 and a trend towards securing more main contractor work. The company is expected to announce an annual turnover of £37m for 2015 to 2016 which, based on the current pipeline of opportunities is expected to increase by around 10 percent in the next financial year.
Mr Dickson added: “Having experienced some challenging times in recent years as a result of the recession and the more recent collapse of a number of major built environment businesses, we’ve seen a shift in recent months with optimism returning and stalled schemes starting to get underway. Owen Pugh is most certainly starting to reap the benefits of this. We’re currently working on projects from highways schemes to housing developments and industrial projects right across the region and into North Yorkshire and, most significantly, we begin the new financial year with the most substantial pipeline of work we’ve ever had. The reorganisation of the business will help us to more effectively cope with this increased demand.”
Owen Pugh, which currently employs 420 staff across its operations expects to add to its headcount in the coming months in line with this growth.
During the last six months Owen Pugh has secured work on a string of high-profile projects including work on housing developments for Gentoo, Miller Homes and Cussins Homes and major highway infrastructure schemes in North Tyneside on behalf of Capita and Kier.
The scope of work delivered by Owen Pugh ranges from road and bridge construction, ports, harbours and sea defences, industrial facilities and office parks to urban renewal and environmental improvements, land reclamation, remediation and environmentally sensitive schemes. The company operates across five sites at Dudley, Blaydon, Middlesbrough, Bassington Lane in Cramlington and at Marsden Quarry near Sunderland.
To find out more about the Owen Pugh Group visit www.owenpugh.com.