Castle Water to create up to 60 service centre jobs.

Blairgowrie-based firm plans to invest £500,000 in centre

A Perthshire-based independent water retailer has announced plans to create up to 60 jobs with a new service centre in Blairgowrie.

Castle Water is investing half a million pounds into the centre which it expects to open later this year.

The company, which was established in 2014, supplies hundreds of thousands of businesses, charities and public bodies in England and Scotland.

As well as its headquarters in Blairgowrie, the fast-growing firm has offices in Glasgow, Ayr, Leeds, Portsmouth and London.

The firm’s most recently filed accounts, for the year ending March 31 last year, show that the business generated revenues of £17.9 million, a significant rise from the £2.9m turnover reported in 2016.

Much of this growth was due to an aggressive growth strategy that saw the firm acquire the business customers of Portsmouth and Thames Water in 2016.

Castle Water CEO John Reynolds said the firm was planning a major recruitment drive to support its ambitious growth plans.

He said: “This is a very exciting time for Castle Water. We look forward to seeing continued success as we expand our footprint and headquarters in Blairgowrie.

“Our new, state of the art service centre will support future growth with up to 60 new jobs while confirming our strong commitment to our growing customer base across the UK.”

In June, Castle again entered the market to acquire small Ayr-based rival Cobalt Water. The move took Castle Water’s workforce to more than 300 staff.

In November the company announced that it had secured a multimillion-pound contract to provide services to Yorkshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester through the Crown Commercial Services framework.

At the time Mr Reynolds described the move as a further opportunity to use the firm’s expertise in delivering cost savings.

Castle Water was set up in response to the 2008 deregulation of the water market in Scotland.

It has grown rapidly in recent years and has become the most significant private-sector employers in the Blairgowrie area.

Castle Water CEO John Reynolds says the firm is planning a major recruitment drive.