A Year to remember
It’s almost one year to the day that Lou Frankland (Managing Director) and Bryan Bentley (Operations Director) acquired Mansfield Pollard in a management buyout from sole shareholder and company chairman, Alan Pollard, in what was a historic deal for the company.
To commemorate the new owners first anniversary, we wanted to take a look back at the last twelve months and reflect on some of the challenges and remarkable successes in our 155th year of business.
March / April 2020: Coronavirus and the Pandemic
Just two weeks after the acquisition, Mansfield Pollard, along with the rest of the UK, faced huge uncertainty as a national lockdown was announced to tackle the new Coronavirus pandemic.
As an agile business, MP quickly responded to the ‘new normal’ – with the transition to working from home and implementing all government recommended measures including social distancing for all manufacturing areas. The health and safety of all our employees will always be our number one priority and despite the unprecedented changes around us, our dedicated staff were able to continue output at 100% with no delays to lead times whilst upholding our world-renowned quality and standards.
April / May 2020: Healthcare Air Handling & CCS Supplier
In response to the call for help from the UK Government to meet the challenges faced by the public sector as a result of coronavirus, Mansfield Pollard were proud to become a Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Supplier providing products that have the greatest and most immediate impacts for public sector organisations and their key workers across the country.
As part of the national effort to fight the new pandemic and as one of the leading designers and manufacturers of healthcare and medical air handling units in the UK, Mansfield Pollard focused all its manufacturing efforts to supply specialist air handling units and ultra-clean air to NHS hospitals, healthcare facilities, and other similar environments.
Specialist care needs specialist air and new COVID-19 isolation wards and pods and modular hospital extensions were prioritised with manufacturing accelerated via 24-hour factory operation to deliver multiple air handling units in record time.
May / June 2020: UVent Launch
The now daily Government briefings contained innumerable references to “game-changers” in the fight against coronavirus. We preferred to let our products do the talking and UVent, Mansfield Pollard’s virus killing ultraviolet air sterilisation products, were officially launched on the 26th May.
Trusted by the NHS, UVent is seeing more and more market sectors adopting and introducing this technology into their business portfolios. Care homes, restaurants, hotels, retail, schools and colleges and commercial offices have all expressed a desire for sterilised air in order to maximise safety levels for both staff and customers.
The continuing sequence of unprecedented events in April and May resulted in a greatly accelerated re-launch of all UVent products driven by the requirement for protection of frontline healthcare workers. The UVent product suite is the world’s most powerful suite of air sterilisation products guaranteed to eliminate airborne viruses and bacteria (including coronavirus). Designed, independently tested and manufactured in the UK, the products are proven to kill 99.99% of all airborne pathogens.
September / October 2020: National & Regional Award Wins
Being recognised by both industry peers and regional businesses is a fitting testament to every member of staff who through sheer dedication and determination, contributed to the unparalleled successes throughout what was probably the most challenging year in our 155-year history.
In October, we were thrilled to accept Heating and Ventilation Review’s (HVR) Commercial/Industrial Ventilation Product of the Year in 2020 for our industry leading UVent range of air sterilisers. Just a few days later, we were equally delighted to accept Manufacturer of the Year at the Yorkshire Excellence in Business Awards for our manufacturing efforts throughout lockdown, in particular our unwavering commitment to serve our customers whilst contributing to the ongoing national effort through specialist air management for the NHS.
October / November 2020: Business Expansion
October saw our operational capabilities expand significantly with the acquisition of a new satellite factory at Rook Lane in Bradford which more than doubled our manufacturing floor space to over 135,00ft2. Split 2/3rd and 1/3rd to our burgeoning data centre cooling and acoustic control divisions respectively, the building is symbolic of our commitment to deliver on our ambitious 3-year growth strategy and a direct result of unprecedented growth.
With the recruitment of additional highly skilled staff and with our air handling division now expanding into the vacated space at our main Parry Lane HQ all our business units have the extra manufacturing space required to match increasing demand.
Work and investment into the site continues to this day, including the recent installation of two single girder overhead cranes allowing us to lift up to ten tonnes.
January 2021: BREXIT
With the BREXIT deadline fast approaching, our procurement experts took this opportunity to strengthen our partnerships and solidify our supply chain. In the months preceding the UK’s exit from the European Union, our team developed a short, medium and long term strategy to mitigate any risk to the timeliness of our manufacturing and ensure our unrivalled lead times, quality and product performance is maintained.
February 2021: Sustainability
One of the most significant changes in the business over the last year and one we are probably most proud of, is the company’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral in 2021. Driven by the board of directors, our net zero carbon sustainability journey has begun in earnest. The company is passionate about supporting decarbonisation and are very conscious of the potential impacts our industry has on climate change including air pollution and quality.
We understand how vital it is that individuals, businesses organisations and governments work towards the common goal of reducing greenhouse emissions and we are working closely with Carbon Footprint Ltd to do everything we can to achieve this goal.
Our sustainability journey is well underway, and as we travel towards our first goal of carbon neutrality, we remain committed to go beyond and aspire to become a climate change leader at different levels throughout our whole business.