Workplace interiors consultant, Saracen Interiors is celebrating a big anniversary this year, thirty years on from its inception. The company has doubled its turnover year-on-year for the past few years aided by the launch of three service divisions – Saracen Facilities, Saracen Small Works and Saracen Move Management – and the opening of a Northern office.
The latter opened its doors in Yorkshire last year to accommodate a growing geographical spread of contracts from existing clients. It has since grown its client list in the region and beyond thanks to the quality of its work and a keen new business strategy which has secured Saracen’s place on a number of pitch lists with new projects to be announced imminently.
The company initially started as an office furniture manufacturer and retail showroom back in 1985 and remained as such until 2000 when it was bought by Saracen’s current joint managing directors, Michael Page and Martin Page. For the past fifteen years the two directors have worked hard to take the business from its status as a South East fit out concern to the national full service enterprise it is recognised as today.
Michael Page explains: “When we started back in 2000, we wanted to create something different and new. The showroom provided an ideal base, with its attached storage facility and workshop, but the company was coming to the end of its natural life as an office furniture supplier. We appreciated its roots and were happy to wed them to office fit out.
“We were relaunching on the back of a strong skillset – both Martin and myself have industry backgrounds with particular strengths in design and engineering – rather than on the back of a sales technique and we wanted to use that to stand out. A lot of our contemporaries come from sales backgrounds, we don’t. Our history is construction: We’ve designed, we’ve built, we’ve been the engineer and we’ve been the manager. Our business has been founded on technical delivery and specialist expertise and that has formed the basis of our approach and given us a blueprint for how to run the business that still exists today.”
Over the years, the number of staff has grown along with the turnover and Saracen invests in local apprentices, training initiatives and industry-specific innovations such as BIM. Michael now sees the next few years as a time for continued growth: “We’re in the North West, Scotland and the Midlands as well as Yorkshire, London and the South East and we are working for some very big names. We’re keen to build on this but it’s also key that we manage our growth by continuing to invest in the team and ensuring that the high standards we have set, on the award-winning projects we have worked on, continue to be met.”
Saracen’s recent clients include Coca-Cola Enterprises, CH2M Hill, YUM Restaurants, Tata Communications, TE Connectivity, Loma Systems, Gray’s Inn Chambers, Libra Group, Creature of London, Aspect Property Group, Motofix, Flight Safety, Countrywide PLC, Knight Frank, Mitie Engineering, Pizza Hut, Redrow Homes, Thames Water, Toshiba, TAG Aviation, Viatel, BAE Systems, Sue Ryder Care, North Surrey Primary Care Trust, Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospital NHS Trust.
For further information, visit www.saraceninteriors.com