The past 12 months saw Guardtech experience incredible growth both within the business and externally, almost doubling the permanent workforce and taking on new manufacturing premises.
The company also secured more major projects than at any other time in their 22-year history, marking an ideal maiden year as the newly established Guardtech Group.
This was part of a major restructure at the start of the year, where five distinct businesses were formed under the Guardtech Group umbrella.
Guardtech Cleanrooms would focus solely on modular builds, while Cleanroom Solutions – a 'friendly competitor' and heritage brand acquired late in 2021 – would assume responsibility for all large-scale turnkey construction projects.
CleanCube Mobile Cleanrooms continued to provide industry-leading portable solutions, but now as a separate business in its own right. Isopod Rapid Cleanrooms followed suit, supplying quick-assembly 'flat-pack' solutions to businesses all over the UK.
The final step was the launch of R&D concept Isoblok Pre-Fab Cleanrooms – a newly developed pre-configured cleanroom pod system.
Commercial Director Mark Wheeler said: "It's been a pleasure to see all five businesses thrive in a difficult climate – and we’d like to wish all our amazing teams and clients a very merry Christmas.
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"The way those teams have grown over the past year has been really heart-warming to see – not only in terms of the business developing, but the fact we've been able to deepen our infrastructure and deliver a better service, with a heavier focus on efficient process and outstanding quality.
"I'd like to thank everyone associated with Guardtech for their hard work, support, trust and faith in our family business – we look forward to a prosperous and exciting 2023."
Among the Group's long list of 2022 construction projects were two 400sqm Grade C builds for Cell & Gene Therapy in Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, as well as a high-spec CleanCube GMP Midi model for a related application.
CleanCube continued to go from strength to strength, with a number of Minis shipping north of the border for Therapeutics work and a stunning 60sqm Maxi earmarked for Biopharmaceuticals work in Sweden.
Among the Isopods provided at home and abroad there was a really interesting bespoke 20sqm model for Injection Moulding in Oxfordshire and 30sqm of bespoke softwalls for an Electronics application in Denmark.
But it was in Guardtech’s specialist area, modular construction, that we really shone this year, kicking off with a stunning suite of 150sqm Grade D cleanrooms in Kent for Pharmaceutical clinical trials.
There were several significant Medical Device projects – including a 550sqm ISO8 build in Cambridgeshire, 300sqm ISO6 project in Staffordshire, 200sqm ISO7 cleanroom for tissue-healing technologies in Devon and a 300sqm controlled environment in Suffolk.
Of the many other intriguing projects, the standouts were a modest 25sqm ISO8 cleanroom for solar cell manufacturing in Oxfordshire, a 140sqm ISO8 cleanroom for electro-optical sensors in Kent and a 200sqm ISO7 Micro-electronics build in Cambridge.
The Group is now looking forward to an even bigger 2023 – with a focus on growing Guardtech’s international presence as well as unveiling a string of new websites to improve the customer journey.
"We've got big plans for next year," Mr Wheeler added. "We're keen to grow our international sales – and we believe that CleanCube and Isopod are perfect solutions for the export market.
"Improving the customer experience is always a priority for us and we’re certain that the plans we have in place for the coming 12 months will help us do just that."
For more information on the Guardtech Group, visit www.guardtechgroup.com, call 0330 113 0303 or email sales@guardtech.com.
Image: Guardtech Group
