Olympus Engineering opens new multi-million pound headquarters

Lord Jones (picture, right), who served as director-general of the Confederation of British Industry for more than six years, unveiled a plaque to mark the company's £8 million relocation from College Road, Hanley to Garner Street, Etruria - a prime site next to the A500 D-Road in Stoke-on-Trent which serves as a showcase for manufacturing in the city and has helped regenerate part of an area that had lain derelict for years. Olympus Engineering was badly hit by the recession with the workforce shrinking by half to around 60 people at a time when the relocation was in full swing, but the company has bounced back from the downturn and employment levels have returned to pre-recession levels with the promise of more jobs to come in 2011. Managing director Neil Blood (picture, centre), who founded the company in 2000, said: "As a company we are living proof that you should always invest in a downturn to take advantage of the upturn when it arrives. That's precisely what we've done and while we were severely affected by the recession, we have recovered strongly and in a position to seize opportunities for growth in the future from our new site. We are already looking to expand after just a short time in the new premises." The new 7,620 m² facility is on a brown field site and houses CNC production facilities making precision machined components for prestige customers like Bentley and JCB. The new premises also include a rapid prototyping centre and facilities for machining components up to 2.5 tonnes in weight and two metres long. Advantage West Midlands was instrumental in securing Olympus Engineering's presence in the area, providing a government grant assistance of £1.36 million to remediate the Garner Street site and two business support grants totalling nearly £900,000 to help the company invest in machinery and equipment.