Waller Associates – Kent & Medway Growth Hub
About the business
Based in Sittingbourne, Waller Associates Limited was established in 2000, though the original business was founded in 1975 by managing director Steve Waller’s father. In 1993, Steve set up a separate construction company, Waller Building Services, followed by Waller Property Services being established in 2008 and Waller Glazing Services in 2010.
Growth Hub support
Waller Associates got in touch with the Kent & Medway Growth Hub to seek help with its aspirations for growth.
The Growth Hub said that once the company’s long- and short-term goals became clear, it was obvious that directing managing director Steve to the Low Carbon Across the South East (LoCASE) grant funding programme was the right fit.
Waller Associates received £10,000 in funding to assist with its short-term plans to upgrade its offices to provide additional desk space for two more employees, as well as the company’s long-term plans for an extension to the property to provide training facilities for glazing NVQs, which will make Waller Associates the first company to offer the qualifications in Kent.
“When trying to grow any business, capital investment is always a contentious issue as it is sometimes difficult to realise what the real benefits are especially when investing in your existing offices,” said Steve. “By improving the working environment, you are basically investing in your staff which can be difficult to measure but what it does do is improve staff retention and productivity.
“There are obvious tangible benefits, as well, with some of the works we have undertaken, such as energy-saving costs with replacement LED lighting and time savings with regards to our IT and server upgrade. We also have additional desk space now, allowing us to employ another contracts manager in alignment with our company growth plan.”
Future plans
“Without the funding from LoCASE, and the support from Kent & Medway Growth Hub, we would have found it very hard to justify this investment, but with it, it gave us that additional incentive to push forward,” Steve added.
“And it has also acted as a catalyst – when you realise what this type of investment can do for your company and staff you then feel the need to improve other areas within the business.”
Steve added that he would “definitely recommend any company who is looking to expand to contact the Kent and Medway Growth Hub to see how they can help you with starting, running or growing your business”.