From Little Acorns Great Oak Trees Grow!
Forty years ago two young salesmen met in a pub in Epping, Essex and formed an agreement to start their own racking company. Little would they know at that time that a long journey was just starting as S & L United Storage Systems Ltd was born. United Storage commenced trading on the 7th of July 1977 (the seventh of the seventh seventy-seven).
The first order received back in July 1977 was for £2,814 for shelving in a chemical warehouse.When this article was written the latest order received was for £281,400 for longspan shelving on a two tier 4800m2 mezzanine floor, already sold by United Storage to the client two months ago, in a clothing warehouse. The latest order being 100 times the first order is a reflection on the success and growth of the company.
United Storage commenced trading, as many companies do, from the spare bedroom of Vik Smith’s house in Harlow, Essex. At that time there was no knowing where the company would go. At the start the product lines were racking and shelving systems, with a main customer base in North London, East London, Essex and East Anglia.
The ambitious nature of the founding shareholders and directors was soon apparent when they took on their first employee, Piers Beszant, in September 1977 as a salesman. Piers is still with the group as Managing Director of Uni-Shop (Fitting) Ltd, the group’s shop equipment company.
One company had turned into two nine years after commencement with the formation of Uni-Shop (Fitting) Ltd as the close link between shop equipment and racking systems was capitalised on. Uni-Shop is still going strong today 31 years later and the companies work closely together on certain projects.
As the company traded there was great foresight and the product ranges increased from the basic racking and shelving systems. One product that has played a large part in the company’s history has been Mezzanine Floors. The directors saw early on the great advantage a mezzanine floor can play in creating extra space for an organisation, so United Storage became a market leader in mezzanine floors early on in the industry’s development. The type of mezzanine floor sold back in the late seventies was usually small single tier structures to create small additional warehouse space, often to provide an office area. Today the mezzanine floors sold are in all shapes and sizes, with a great variety of uses.
The company is regularly selling multi-tier mezzanine floors for use in warehouses and self-storage facilities or mezzanine floors with heights of 10 metres in distribution facilities on footprints in excess of 20,000m2.
Servicing the ever increasing demand for mezzanine floor structures led to the creation of United Construction and Manufacturing Ltd 13 years ago in 2004. It was believed that to provide the best service for mezzanine floors, it was necessary to have our own manufacturing facility, which is based in Haverhill, Suffolk.
The facility enables all aspects of the mezzanine floor manufacture to be under our own control – sales, survey, design, detailing, manufacture, delivery and installation. Unlike many of our competitors in the mezzanine industry United Storage are selfsufficient, even owning our own delivery vehicles.
To cope with the ever increasing customer base, which soon became fully national and now European, the staffing levels have increased, with the Group employing some 90 full time staff plus a large back up of subcontract operatives who are closely connected.
The Group’s success is very much based on the service provided to customers, which has led to much regular repeat business throughout the United Kingdom. New customers more often than not come from customer referrals rather than marketing or advertising. There is a strong belief within the organisation that employees should be passionate about their work and the client’s interests should be put before the pursuit of profit. This attitude has led to the overall success achieved over the last 40 years.
From where it started the organisation has turned into a considerable concern with a client list of household names and an achievement of completing some formidable projects over the years. From the original acorn a great oak has definitely grown, with much growth ahead of it.
S & L UNITED STORAGE LTD
Tel: 01279 871787
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