Summer 2022BES: Delivering industry-leading expertise from Rochdale

BES started life as a small company, established by a group of former colleagues who wanted to design and deliver exemplary buildings for the pharmaceutical sector. Two decades later, the Rochdale company is not only celebrating 20 years in business in 2022, but is also nudging a £100 million turnover for the first time and still growing.

Steve Marsh has been BES’s managing director since the company was first established and all BES’s start-up team are still with the business today, providing consistency and industry-leading expertise to clients across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and healthcare sectors.

The company has always adapted, remaining agile as it has grown to serve new sectors, embrace new technologies and leverage the skills of its multidisciplinary team. In July, Steve will move to a new role as Executive Chairman, and Zeb Ahmed, who worked with all of BES’s existing leadership team in the 1990s, will become the company’s first CEO, while current engineering director, Paul Marsh, will become COO.

“BES has grown year on year since we were first established in 2002,” explains Steve. “But the past couple of years have been particularly successful as we have invested in further development of our design department. We have also invested in our multidisciplinary team, digital technology and training, to ensure we offer an industry-leading, end-to-end solution for clients, while focusing on managed growth and succession planning.”

A Chartered European Process Engineer and Oxford University Alumnus, with triple fellowship of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, Energy Institute, and Institute of Directors, Zeb is a key part of that succession planning. His process engineering background complements the turnkey service offering of the BES business, which designs, engineers and constructs complex facilities for technically demanding industries.

“What we do is very specialist,” Steve continues, “so creating a culture of collaboration and developing skills has been central to the way we have built the business since the day we began. We are like an extended family with a supportive management team, a focus on collaboration and a commitment to developing talent through mentoring. Around 70 per cent of our team have benefitted from our bespoke leadership training, which helps enhance communication and effective management across the business. We’re also proud of the opportunities we have created for young people in Rochdale, with an apprenticeship programme that dates back almost as far as the business itself. A number of former apprentices have gone on to senior roles, having been sponsored through their degree by the company.”

Offering process, mechanical, and electrical, and architectural design, along with construction services, BES can take projects from feasibility study to cGMP validation, which is required to meet the strict manufacturing standards in the pharmaceutical sector. The company’s clients include international blue chips, such as AstraZeneca, along with niche R&D and manufacturing companies, NHS trusts, government agencies and emerging technology specialists.

“Most of our projects encompass cleanrooms and laboratories, where the environment needs to be strictly controlled for temperature, humidity, pressure and cleanliness,” explains Steve. “What sets us apart is our joined up approach; by working collaboratively across departments and with our clients, we can design and deliver projects that achieve the best possible outcome, innovating for our clients and ensuring we meet the needs of the people who will work in the facilities we build.”

Having increased the company’s team by 50 people over the past two years, boosting all departments across both its Rochdale HQ and Milton Keynes southern office, BES is poised for more growth to come.

“Essentially, our strategy is to invest in people and skills, creating a great place to work whilst providing an exceptional service that we can all be proud of,” Steve adds. “It’s hard to believe that it’s 20 years since we first took the leap of faith to start the business, and even more to reflect on how much we’ve achieved since then. Looking ahead, there is so much potential to continue building the business here in Rochdale.”