Solus Garden & Leisure

In October 1999 we met with Nicholas Hovey who showed us over an old second world war hangar in poor repair. He explained how he could transform the building into a modern distribution centre for our latest garden and leisure business.

After enquiring about our needs and requirements and looking at other distribution buildings, he came up with the ideas in current use. Firstly a loading dock facility to enable us to load the lorries with our own pallet trucks, made easier by the use of dock levellers. The quick and easy use of up-and-over electronically operated doors to the loading area to enable us to load our trucks in the dry and keep them safe overnight, all ready to go in the early morning.

“We are happy to say we enjoy a good working relationship with our landlords, Tilia Properties, who have certainly been instrumental in our continued growth.” Solus Garden & Leisure

Testimonials

Then we devised a pallet racking system for the forklift trucks within the building with mezzanine flooring where hand picking is required, thus maximising the number of products we can store in this new facility - some 15,000 different lines all in an area of 28,000 sq. ft. Tilia also built us a modular sales office with executive offices upstairs.

In May 2001, we needed further warehousing as our product range had grown to some 20,000 different lines. with the help of Tilia Properties we were able to expand with an additional facility of a further 29,000 sq. ft. which was added to the original site, keeping our picking and handling of goods to a minimum cost, thereby making our warehouses some of the most efficient within the Solus group. A new covered loading bay area with easy access into the new building was formed, very convenient, especially in poor weather! As a result of our expansion and flourishing business we now have 45 employees in 2006 whereas we had just 12 in 2000.

Polyprint

We met Nicholas Hovey, Property Director of Tilia Properties, in 1994, and struck up a good relationship with him. He listened to our needs and helped us to accommodate our expanding business. By taking the time to understand our manufacturing process and requirements, he was able to create extra space within the factory buildings we already occupied. This allowed us the room to install 6 large, state of the art flexographic printing presses.

As our business expanded we needed extra warehousing of some considerable size to hold our ever increasing stock of polythene. A new building was then constructed on an adjacent site with convenient access to our production facilities.

Tilia also observed we were having difficulties with the traffic movements of articulated transport and widened the road to enable access for loading and unloading vehicles with ease. Tilia were also able to expand our office space by building an extension to the front of one of our units.

With modern compliance ton environmental issues we had to adapt our factory and install a biodegradable extraction system, which controls the output of alcohols into the atmosphere. this was again accommodated on the existing site. Tilia properties have assisted in getting necessary planning permission and easing the pressure of complying with environmental issues, which has enabled us to keep up with modern legislation and continue to expand our business.

CIM Signs & Graphics

Our new premises is beyond the standard and quality that we had anticipated, not only does it look really impressive, it is also functional and perfect for the growth of our team and business as a whole.

It is now that we can see what a massive step up this is for us as a company. Everyone who has walked into the building has commented positively on the unit and we are prompt to tell them about Tilia and the contractors who had the foresight to make 9 Macintosh Road as impressive as it is.

It may well be just a small building in comparison to most of your work, but it is a lot more than that to us. We would like to ensure that you and the contractors do all come for a drink one evening so we can show our appreciation to them too.

All in all thank you for giving us the push and advice we needed to take this first step forward and making one of the dreams that I had when we first formed the company come true. Mark Baker, Director CIM Signs