Y E A R S O F W E S S E X

5 0 Y E AR S O F W E S SE X

Welcome to this rather unique brochure, which we suspect you

will not have seen the likes of before!

As our 50th anniversary year approached we wanted to

produce a publication not only to celebrate our achievements,

but leave our Clients in no doubt that we continue to have as

much enthusiasm for the future as we have pride in the past.

So rather than create a conventional brochure including

photographs of our work, numerous case studies, testimonials

and a description of each of the services we provide within the

group – all of which can be found on our website at

www.wessexgroup.co.uk – we thought it would be more

interesting to wander down a memory lane of popular culture,

contextualising some of our own historical highlights along

the way.

Welcome

1963 – 1972

n November 1963 Tony Morgan founded his first business, having previously served as an electrical apprentice with the Southern Electricity Board. Tony began trading under his own name and very shortly after as Wessex Electricals Contractors, resurrecting memories of the old “Wessex Electricity Company” who had an office in Shaftesbury from 1929 until the electricity supply industry was nationalised in 1948.

The following year the company’s first apprentice, Gordon Green, joined the firm and the first year sales total was £4,291. 6s. 11d. In 1965 the company gained approval from the National Inspection Council of Electrical Installation Contractors (NICEIC).

The breakthrough year for the fledgling business was 1966 when Wessex was awarded a contract to install the electrical services in all the factory units on the brand new “Longmead Industrial Estate” in Shaftesbury. Then in 1967 Tony was joined by Owen Brockway and the business became a partnership, enjoying steady growth for the remainder of the decade. 1971 brought both the challenge of decimalisation and the largest contract to date, which involved the electrical installation in eighty new council owned houses in Shaftesbury.

The company was incorporated and registered as Wessex Electricals (Shaftesbury) Ltd in 1972 and sales for the year, marking the end of the first trading decade, amounted to £63,098 and Wessex employed seven staff.

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The breakthrough year for the fledgling business was 1966

when Wessex was awarded a contract to install the electrical

services in all the new factory units in Shaftesbury

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1973 – 1982

his was the decade dedicated to building a strong financial footing and developing a customer focussed culture. Together, these two tenets formed the foundation on which all our subsequent success has been built.

Wessex Electricals developed an enviable reputation locally and enjoyed excellent relationships with many of the region’s local builders and continued to win many prestigious contracts, including the re-wire of Sherborne Abbey.

In 1972 we moved from our makeshift office, a residential property in St. James Street, Shaftesbury, to a small purpose built office on the edge of Longmead Industrial Estate, which we proudly named “Wessex House”. Our neighbour and long-time customer Dorset Foods, owned by the late Roger Newport, a charismatic entrepreneur and philanthropist, was concerned how Tony would find the time to manage the finances of the ever growing business and counselled Wessex to use his management accountancy firm. This proved a turning point for the company and from 1981 to this day David King has been responsible for producing full monthly management accounts, joining Wessex full-time in 2003. By the end of 1982 the company had increased annual sales to £153,466 and was employing 18 staff.

This was the decade dedicated to building a strong financial

footing and developing a customer focussed culture

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1983 – 1992

f the previous decade had been about laying foundations, this decade was about significant growth and diversification. In 1983 Owen Brockway left Wessex to form his own business and Tony Morgan became the sole owner once again.

There were very few regional burglar alarm companies in 1984 when Wessex Alarms was founded, quickly establishing itself as the region’s premier provider of security systems. Much of the success of this new venture is credited to Terry Hack of Safeguard Security Consultants, who not only established the structure and guiding principles of the business, but acted as a mentor to Tony’s eldest son Simon, who joined the business in 1985 straight from school as a trainee security surveyor. Major electrical projects included the complete refurbishment of the derelict Marston House, a Grade II listed building near Frome, Somerset bought by Foster Yeoman Ltd in 1984. The 106 room mansion was restored as their company headquarters – one of our electricians was on site for 6 years!

In 1991 Wessex Catering Maintenance was formed, specialising in commercial catering equipment maintenance, a niche service we had initially been providing locally to Little Chef restaurants.

Towards the end of this key decade we moved from our small offices to our second purpose built building a stone’s throw away. Sales shot past the £1m mark to £1,826,329 and we employed 35 staff.

Towards the end of this key decade we moved from our

small offices to our second purpose built building

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1993 – 2002

his decade saw continued growth in all companies and the creation of a formal group structure under the parent company “Wessex Group”. Alistair Morgan, Tony’s other son, joined the business as a trainee buyer in 1993 having spent six years working in sales, the last two in the electrical wholesale industry. Wessex Alarms was renamed Wessex Fire & Security to better describe the services provided, and continued to go from strength to strength. Wessex Building Services was founded to specialise solely in major projects and two of the most notable projects during the decade were the complete electrical refurbishment of Poole Arts Centre, including the prestigious concert hall, which reopened as the Lighthouse, and the installation of all the electrical services in the largest Sikh temple outside of India.

In 1995 Wessex began a business development project under the guidance of respected management consultant Tony Brunt, which resulted in an improved organisational structure and a focus on staff training and development, culminating in “Investors in People” recognition. Tony Brunt subsequently joined the board as a non-executive director in 2003.

In 1999 the company acquired two adjoining factory units on the Longmead industrial estate which we partially demolished to create our current 15,000m² purpose built offices.

By the end of this decade of growth annual sales amounted to £16,710,364 and the number of staff had reached an impressive 205

In 2000 Wessex were immensely proud

to be recognised as Investors in People

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2003 – 2012

n the first year of this decade Wessex became recognised as a UK top 50 electrical contractor, entering the Schneider sponsored list for the first time at No. 45. This marked the beginning of a period which has seen the sort of significant achievements only achievable by a mature and experienced business.

In 2004 we began providing heating and plumbing services under the banner of Wessex HVAC & Plumbing and a year later we acquired Andover based Wiltshire & Willey Electrical Contractors. In 2010 Wessex Renewable Energy Ltd was founded, 2012 hailed the formation of Wessex Property Care to provide an integrated service for all our customer’s property maintenance needs.

The most notable project of the period was undertaken by Wessex Fire & Security and involved the installation of the fire alarm and voice evacuation system at the brand new GCHQ building in Cheltenham – a contract that took two years to complete and was worth £2.5m. Term maintenance contract awards included: catering equipment repair for McDonald’s Restaurants, HVAC servicing for Marks and Spencer, property care for Raglan Housing and the renewal of our electrical housing maintenance contract with Wiltshire Council, clients since 1971.

In 2004 Tony Morgan was elected to the most prestigious role of President of the Electrical Contractors Association and collected a plethora of lifetime achievement awards from both the electrical and security industries. In 2005 the board appointed a second non-executive director, Bob Hall, who had retired from his position as Chief Executive of SSE Contracting. Tony completed his phased retirement in 2006 and passed the baton to his two sons Simon and Alistair.

The group continues to go from strength to strength and in 2012 sales amounted to £31,302,978 with the number of staff standing at 408.

2004 saw Tony Morgan elected to the most prestigious

role of President of the Electrical Contractors Association

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Having maintained a solid financial foundation

Wessex is able to continue funding our growth

and development

The Future

e begin our 6th decade having given much thought to our strategic objectives for the next ten years. Since the 2008 recession and the subsequent culture of austerity, it is essential that every business evaluates their vision, mission and values.

Having maintained a solid financial foundation Wessex is able to continue funding our growth and development. We have plans to refurbish our existing offices to better optimise spaces, enhance collaborative working and create a better sense of wellbeing for our staff. We are also planning to establish a business hub near the south coast to make Wessex more accessible to our customers and staff that are based between Southampton & Poole.

The exponential growth in technology, particularly communication technology, will have a significant impact within the industries we work and the way we manage our business. We have no doubt that the accelerating changes in building services technology, including renewable energy, security systems and commercial catering equipment, to name but a few, will require significant investment in research and training. Likewise successful service providers, such as Wessex, will develop their business management software to enable 24h Customer access to information via their mobile device and support system integration with their back-office systems to minimise administrative burden.

By 2023 we forecast that sales will amount to approximately £45,000,000 and the number of staff will be around 500.

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Our companies

T: 01747 852878 E:electricals@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/electricals

• Maintenance contracts • Installations • PAT • Testing and inspection

• NICEIC approved • ECA members

T: 01747 858074 E:plumbing@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/plumbing

• Bathroom installations •Boiler upgrades •Power flushing

• Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning service •Gas Safe registered

T:01747 858067 E:property@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/property •Carpentry •Kitchen fitting •Roofing

•Tiling •Guttering •General property maintenance

T: 01747 858036 E:renewable@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/renewable

• Solar photovoltaic panels •Solar thermal hot water • Ground source heat pumps

• Air source heat pumps •MCS accredited •MCA approved

T: 01747 858866 E:projects@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/projects

• Complete installation of all building services •Consultancy service

•New build and refurbishment work •BESCA accredited

T: 01747 850735 E:catering@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/catering

• 24-hour national coverage •All electrical, gas, LPG

•Reactive and planned preventative maintenance F I R E & S E C U R I T Y

T: 01747 852258 E:fire@wessexgroup.co.uk www.wessexgroup.co.uk/fire

• Domestic and commercial solutions • 24-hour service and repair • Fire, Intruder, Access control and CCTV systems

• Fire extinguishers • NACOSS/NSI ISO9001 Quality Assurance Certificate • BAFE certificated

www.wessexgroup.co.uk The directors of Wessex Group dedicate this publication to our long serving, loyal and hardworking staff, of whom there are sadly too many to mention by name. We would also like to thank our many loyal customers; we sincerely appreciate your support and will strive to continue delivering the level of service you have come to expect.