TPi October 2012

business & market news

BSS and Balfour Beatty beat biking challenge A team of nine cycling enthusiasts from BSS Industrial and Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) have completed a gruelling 320-mile challenge to raise over £6,585 for ‘Help the Hospices’ and ‘Building Better Futures’.

Setting off from the BBES head office in Glasgow, Scotland, and finishing at the BSS Industrial HQ in Leicester, England, the challenge was to complete the journey in just three days. Travelling over tough terrain including the Southern Uplands at Beattock Summit in South West Scotland and the Lake District at Shap, which sits 1,398ft above sea level, the team ignored injuries and tired legs to raise the impressive amount for its two partner charities. Tom Wilson, business development director at BSS Industrial, commented, “Reaching the finishing line at our head office in Leicester was a real high – I have definitely never been happier to see the office! We hope this will be just the start of our joint fundraising with customers such as BBES. This joint cycling challenge is a demonstration of how strong the working relationship is between BSS Industrial and BBES. The funds raised by both teams will go towards making a real difference to people living in the communities where our head offices are based.” Nigel Hempsall, Steve Knight, David Percival and Peter Weatherall from the BBES team and James Gaby, Steve Harris, Andy Raine, Tom Wilson and Andrew Wood from BSS Industrial covered a staggering 100 miles each day in order to meet the challenge.

BSS and BBES reach the finish line

Established over 110 years ago, BSS has over 60 national branches, a national distribution centre based at Lutterworth in the East Midlands, and a national tube distribution centre in Coventry. The company has a number of specialist brands that provide customers with a single source solution. Balfour Beatty Engineering Services delivers solutions with a focus on meeting the needs of customers. The company offers comprehensive experience, expertise and technical competencies across a broad range of market sectors.

Echoing Mr Wilson’s sentiment, Nigel Hempsall, head of procurement at BBES, said, “Tom has summed it up. It was a tough challenge but the team worked fantastically well together to cover the miles… all 335 of them! It really is testament to the strength of teamwork and the shared desire to raise funds for our charities. A huge thank you to everyone involved and I look forward to our next fundraising adventure!” Help the Hospices is BSS Industrial’s charity partner, and champions and supports hospice care, representing more than 200 hospices across the UK. Building Better Futures is a charitable programme set up by Balfour Beatty to help fund opportunities for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. BSS Industrial, part of the plumbing and heating division of Travis Perkins plc, is a pipeline and heating distributor.

BSS Industrial – UK enquiries@bssgroup.com www.bssindustrial.co.uk

Balfour Beatty Engineering Services – UK enquiry@bbesl.com www.bbesl.com

PCT moves premises due to expansion PCT is moving its headquarters to new premises located on the north bank of the river Tyne in Wallsend, in the northeast of England. The expansion has been driven by an upturn in demand over the past year for plastic pipe coiling and packaging equipment from established quayside mobilisation and vessel load out for larger equipment.

Complementing the design, project management and customer support services offered by PCT are manufacturing facilities, including fabrication, shot-blast and painting.

markets, and by the expansion of equipment sales into other sectors such as wire rope, sub-sea umbilical and power cable manufacture, and well intervention. The new riverside location has direct access to deep water quay facilities, enabling

The new site, which provides more than double the floor space currently occupied, will accommodate the continued expansion of staff numbers and will vastly increase the supply capability of the business.

PCT Ltd – UK www.pipecoil.co.uk

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Tube Products International October 2012

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