Business park move for technology company

A FINNISH tech firm is moving its UK operation across the region after more than three decades in its current home.

Vaisala, which is headquartered in Helsinki, specialises in measurement technology and the UK arm has been based at the University of Birmingham since it began life as a start-up in the mid-1980s.

Vaisala acquired the fledgling business in 1989 and it has since become the company’s HQ for all its UK and Ireland operations. It is due to relocate its team of around 50 staff to Birmingham Business Park in Solihull in July after being delayed by the coronavirus lockdown. UK managing director Geoff Hart said: “We weren’t unhappy there but the working world had begun to change. We were moving to a model which incorporated more remote working and wanted to have more flexibility within our space. Several options were discussed and we finally decided on Bishops Court on Birmingham Business Park.”

Adrian Southall, director of property consultancy KWB Workplace, helped the company find its new home.

He said fit out contractors had just started work but were forced to stop almost immediately following the Government’s advice on working practices as the lockdown started. “There were discussions about what were essential services and which companies should be operating,” he said. “Much of Vaisala’s work here is weather-related road surface state forecasting for Highways England. Vaisala was classified as a provider of critical infrastructure services. Achieving that status meant we could ask the contractor to return, agree safety protocols, overcome all the challenges so the space is now ready to occupy.”