Europa Worldwide Logistics, one of the UK’s largest privately owned transport companies is expanding its footprint and has chosen an iconic Nottingham location for its latest site.
Europa is one of the first tenants in the 12,000 sq ft high tech Rushcliffe Technology and Enterprise Centre (RTEC) which overlooks Trent Bridge Cricket ground, and Nottingham Forest Football Club.
Nottingham commercial property consultancy Exeid, signed a contract with Rushcliffe Borough Council on the Civic Centre Building on Pavilion Road in West Bridgford in February and since then has invested significant sums in refurbishing the property to the highest standards.
Dionne Redpath, Sales & Branch Director has been heading up the search for a new Nottingham branch for some time and comments “It’s an extremely exciting time for Europa, the East Midlands is an area of huge potential and was previously managed remotely from our Birmingham office. Our strategy is to deliver excellent customer service via locally managed channels putting our products and services at the heart of the region we are servicing. So enhancing our branch network is an important part of our strategy to fill the gaps and thus increase our footprint across the country.”
The new Nottingham office will cover collection and distribution requirements across the East Midlands, connecting the branch to Europa’s northern hub in Birmingham allowing consignments to be exported across Europe on a daily basis, transporting goods the same night.
Europa already services local customers in the East Midlands, many in manufacturing. Europa’s expansion comes as business confidence in the region increases. Last month figures from RBS regional growth tracker showed the East Midlands’ economy has expanded faster than any other region, and in the first quarter of 2014 manufacturing helped boost the area by 1%. Food, rubber and plastics were highlighted as the sectors contributing most to the region’s economic expansion. RBS said “This largely reflects its sector shape, as manufacturing accounts for an above-average share of the East Midlands economy and was one of the fastest-growing sectors at a national level.”
Richard Priestley, Managing Director of Exeid said “I am delighted to welcome Europa to the new RTEC business community, and looking forward to working with Europa.
“Europa represent exactly the type of progressive technology based business RTEC was establish to support, and will complement the businesses already signed up to this exciting new location.”
Europa already employs 500 people across 10 sites in the UK, plus an office in Hong Kong and carries around 500,000 consignments annually at the end of 2013 Europa opened a new office in Leeds to develop its northern territory. This new Nottingham branch has been opened to enable the firm to maximise its services and meet growing customer demand for both import and export – specifically on its pan European daily services.
Europa’s expansion follows its acquisition in August formerly a Director of Nottingham based RH Group. As part of the acquisition Mr Baxter announced his plans for investment in the business and maximising its potential outside of its European operations, in air, ocean and logistics operations.
Since acquiring the business the new team has already made a number of significant investments. In January Europa announced it was creating a new state-of-the-art 262,500 sq ft (24,387 sq mt) head office and South of England hub, at Prologis Park near Dartford. Construction is due to start on site shortly with a target to be operational in spring 2015, its 230 Europa staff based at the existing head office in Erith will move to the new site. Last month Europa reorganised it’s road freight sales and customer services functions with 77 existing staff moving roles and 9 new staff recruited. The new roles include 30 account managers, 10 branch managers and 46 customer service positions all of which are intended to better service customer needs.
Europa has also just started the first, £1.7m phase of its IT investment programme. Known as “Leonardo” the bespoke IT system is being designed and implemented by Europa’s 17 strong, in-house IT team and led by (Nottingham based) IT Director Richard Lichfield to provide seamless integration across the business. The first phase will be completed by January 2016 focusing on Europa’s road freight operations.
Andrew Baxter, Europa’s Managing Director commented; “I’m delighted to announce the next stage of Europa’s development programme. As a national operator is it vital that we have a sales and distribution presence in all of the key areas of the country and particularly those showing growth. The East Midlands is obviously an area I know very well and I am clear that there is a demand for our service here as the country and this region move out of difficult economic times. Nottingham is the heart of this region which is why it is the perfect location to expand our offer.”
The new office will be headed up by seasoned logistics professional Branch Manager Sam Boot, who has joined Europa to head up the new office. Sam has 10 years logistics experience at a number of leading national logistics providers, he is supported by two recently appointed senior account managers and a specialist operator. The branch falls under the remit of Adrian Redmile Europa’s Regional Manager for the Midlands. Within the first 12 months Europa is looking to expand its new operation with the recruitment of a further three members of staff.
