Massive growth over the past few years has seen MR Industrial Services forge strong links with some of the biggest developers in the UK – leading to a new focus on its approach to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint.
High-value contracts with the likes of Winvic, McLaren, Glencar and TSL have seen the Corby company take great strides forward in its ambition to be the UK’s number one supplier of secondary steelwork and architectural steelwork.
The company was founded in 2015 by Matthew Ross and grew steadily during its first five years. With expansion plans already in place for 2020, the coronavirus pandemic and the hits taken by the steel industry generally gave MR Industrial Services the opportunity to recruit good-quality workers who might not otherwise have been available. Bringing in a wealth of talent and experience allowed the firm to push on with its plans to grow and develop.
Anthony Nelson, Director of Business Development, said:
“Matthew is very driven and knew where he wanted the business to go, and this has led to growth and reinvestment. Construction powered on through the pandemic and we were able to stay with ow because we had the opportunity to go out and get some very experienced people on board.
“During the pandemic, we moved from a small fabrication shop to a 12,500 square foot warehouse with offices and so we could cope with the growth, we now employ close to 70 people, and we’ve seen a significant leap in contracts and turnover.
“There’s no limit to where we can go and, having built a very good relationship with Winvic, we’ve managed to expand that out into other large developers, and are working on projects all over the UK with the likes of Glencar, McLaren and TSL.”
MR Industrial Services can provide the design, fabrication and installation of anything from full-scale turnkey construction projects through to portal frame structures, architectural features, protection and everything in between.
As part of the supply chain for some of biggest development projects in the country, MR Industrial Services has recognised the need to work hard on its environmental approach, reducing its carbon footprint and putting sustainability at the forefront of the company’s thinking.
Michael Morrisroe is the firm’s SHEQ and Sustainability Director and has responsibility for ensuring net zero targets are in sight both in terms of the services and products MR Industrial Services delivers to clients and also in the way its own business is run. Already ISO 14001 accredited, the company has made changes large and small to reduce its carbon output.
Michael explained:
“It’s important for us to meet the requirements of our customers who are now asking about our efforts towards becoming carbon neutral and net zero. I moved here from a large chemical business where we’d been focusing on sustainability for a while, and we started to look at things we could do throughout all areas of our business.”
Where MR Industrial Services have teams on site, if they are more than one and a half hours drive from home, they stay near the site overnight. Company vehicles are gradually being switched to electric models and where possible, managers travelling significant distances to meetings are encouraged to go by train rather than drive.
Within the Brunel Road site, changes such as the replacement of the extractor system for a more efficient model and an upgrade of the heating system has helped cut output even further.
Michael Morrisroe added:
“It’s all very positive change, and we’re proud of what we’ve managed to do. Roughly, I’d say we’ve cut our carbon footprint by around 25 to 30% and by having teams stay close to their site we’ve brought our carbon emissions down by around 31,000 kg. There’s also the benefit to the local economies, of course, that we’re supporting hotels and hospitality businesses in the areas where we are working.
“In terms of supplying materials, where we are able, we have the materials delivered directly to the site and we’ve started to measure the embodied carbon in what we supply.”
MR Industrial Services is on Winvic’s Green Supplier List, a small list of companies who the developer recognises as doing all they can to help create net zero sites.
Anthony Nelson said:
“We’re proud to be working with large developers but they are keen to ensure their entire supply chain supports their efforts to hand over buildings that are as close to net zero as possible, and by doing what we do as a business we can help them to deliver on that.”
Find out more about MR Industrial Services on 01536 204510 or visit www.mrindustrialservices.co.uk