An ambitious Inverness-based electrical firm is marking five years in business by planning a major expansion of its Scottish operations.
NES (North Electrical Services) Ltd, which also operates out of Elgin, has already more than quadrupled its permanent workforce to 60 since setting up in 2012.
It is now targeting another four-fold increase, to bring the staff up to 250 within the next five years and is also proposing a move into the central belt.
At the same time, the company expects turnover to rise from between £3 million-£4 million to around £12 million-£15 million.
NES had added four new recruits already this year – three admin staff and an estimator – as well as four new apprentice electricians.
The company, which is renowned for its apprentice scheme and ‘grow your own’ staff policy, have based the new trainees in Inverness and Elgin. It will bring the total number of apprentices at both sites to 15.
NES’s services include industrial and commercial electrical installation and maintenance works, control and instrumentation, electric motor repair, overhaul and rewinding for clients including schools, offices, commercial premises, distilleries and fish processing plants.
Its experienced workforce includes electricians, project engineers, estimators and a full-time health and safety manager, a post normally found in much larger businesses.
NES managing director Kenny Duncan said widening its Scottish presence is a natural progression for the company.
“There are still opportunities for us to grow in the North and North-east, but we also feel we can pursue other areas, like the central belt, and other sectors, such as energy and social housing.
“If it goes as we expect it to go over the next 4-5 years we will quadruple the existing workforce and seek new projects we feel we’re well suited to
“However, we will continue to be heavily focused on apprentices and people development which has been very successful for us.”
NES’s progress has been praised by Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry, who said: “NES is a great success story, growing from a small company to one with 60 employees and with ambitious plans to develop significantly in the next five years.
“The fact that growth has been driven by a desire to create opportunities for young people and on staff development makes the achieved and planned progress even more commendable.”
NES’s workforce is presently around 100 with the addition of contract workers as it completes a major contract for Norbord, Inverness. It is also engaged in projects at Cauldeen School in Inverness; the new £100 million Macallan distillery in Moray and at SGL Carbon Fibers Ltd in Ross-shire
Kirsty Bulloch, who has recently been appointed business development manager, will assist in a more pro-active approach to secure new work.
NES’s commitment to safety and developing new staff has seen it win prestigious awards in successive years from SELECT, the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland, which represents more than 1,250 companies, 15,000 electricians and 3,500 apprentices
NES picked up the award for Best Electrical Safety Project in 2016, having won the Best Use of Training category in 2015.
