ENGINEERING
Success - from left , John Thompson , Bob Shaw and Fran Cormican of Intelect .
SILVER JUBILEE
Hugely
WORDS : PHILIP TALLENTIRE PICTURE : STUART BOULTON
successful Tees firm celebrates its 25th anniversary
From small things , big things grow . In 1997 , six time-served electricians from Teesside spotted an opportunity to set up their own firm .
They named it Intelect and , initially working out of their own garages and bedrooms , the ambitious group soon found themselves with a thriving business on their hands .
Now , 25 years after starting out , the three remaining founding directors and their workforce of almost 250 employees are set to celebrate the company ’ s silver jubilee .
“ We ’ ll be having a staff celebration , a big thank you for everybody ,” reveals John Thompson , who runs Intelect along with two fellow directors , Fran Cormican and Andrew Shaw .
“ If it wasn ’ t for our customers and our staff we wouldn ’ t be here now . We ’ re so grateful to them all for their loyalty and commitment .”
Intelect provides electrical and mechanical engineering solutions to a wide range of clients , including the food and beverage sector .
Explaining how the business began , John says : “ An opportunity came along , we took it and we ran with it .
“ We were working for a company that unfortunately went out of business . However , the client , Nestlé of York , was happy for us to carry on the work we ’ d been doing for them , so we decided to found the business back in October 1997 .
“ The plan at the start was to just service the client because there was so much work , we were putting in seven , 12-hour shifts per week .
“ We were travelling to York each day and then , after getting home , we were learning to do things like the payroll and writing up quotes . Because there was so much work to be done , the six of us soon became seven , then eight , then nine .”
It ’ s a remarkable success story and , since its foundation 25 years ago , Intelect has grown beyond all recognition , both in terms of the size of its workforce and the services it offers to an increasing number of satisfied clients .
Within a couple of years of its foundation , the business was moving into bigger premises from its first office at Broadcasting House , Middlesbrough . Intelect would soon outgrow that home - and several others - as the order book continued to increase .
“ In the early days we had two main clients but because we had such a rapport with lots of other clients , we built up quite a catalogue of blue chip companies ,” says John .
Intelect ’ s first decade saw the company open a panel manufacturing facility and a pipework division while also introducing mechanical manufacturing and fabrication capabilities .
Another significant milestone in the firm ’ s development was reached in 2009 , when it opened its purpose-built headquarters , Stephenson House , on Riverside Park .
As the business thrived on Teesside , the bold decision was made to open an additional facility in Grimsby in 2011 and , two years later , another site was launched in Leicester .
Those sites have thrived and expanded , as has Intelect ’ s Middlesbrough headquarters . The impressive three-acre site now boasts four bespoke buildings , with one plot remaining to be developed .
“ We ’ ve now got a state-of-the-art engineering facility ,” explains John . “ We started off as an electrical contractor 25 years ago and that ’ s all we did , but as time went by our customers were requesting additional work , asking us to take on more and more disciplines .
“ From the six guys who started the business in 1997 we have almost 250 employees now with a turnover of £ 27m .”
Virtually from day one , the firm has been committed to recruiting and training its own workforce through a wide range of award-winning apprenticeship schemes and that investment has paid off handsomely .
More than 150 apprentices have worked for Intelect over the past quarter of a century and many are still with a community-minded firm which prides itself on fostering a family atmosphere within its workforce and also supporting several Teesside charities .
Here ’ s to the next 25 years !
For more information , visit IntelectUK . com
110 | Tees Business