‘Moving onwards and upwards’
AGROWING building services firm which has survived two recessions and a global pandemic is marking its milestone 50th year in business this year. JPR Group was born out of the amalgamation of Hanley-based Century Electrical and Waterloo Electrical, based in Burslem.
The company – whose name is derived from founders John Moran, Paul Williams and Roy Davenport – started out specialising in light electrical work for the pottery industry.
Today the 125-strong business, based in North Street, Stoke, operates across three divisions – mechanical, electrical and plumbing; fire and security and data and telecoms.
Managing director John Moran – who took over JPR after Paul and Roy retired in 2005 – said: “At the beginning, Century Electrical was heavily involved in the pottery industry, and Waterloo Electrical did a lot of sub-contracting work for Century. So once the industry started to demise and work slowed down, we had to branch out and broaden our horizons.
“The amalgamation of both companies came about when Paul and Roy both decided that they were ready to retire, so joining forces meant we could continue and take the business forward.
“Over the years we have worked on some amazing projects in some really interesting places such as Norway, Gibraltar and Australia.
“We work all over the country but we are really proud of the fact that we always bring the money back to North Staffordshire, as 95 per cent of our staff have an ST postcode.”
JPR Group is a £12 million company which operates across a variety of sectors from health and social care and education to manufacturing, retail and leisure and transport.
It counts big-name firms including bet365, Caddick Construction, Keele University, William Hill and Stoke City FC among its clients.
John believes that the company’s success has been driven by ambition and technical know how.
He said: “It has been a challenge and we have gone through some really tough times, we have gone through two recessions and covid, but we’ve pushed forward and we are still here.
“From day one we have been breaking barriers and today we are leading the way in our industry in Stoke-on-trent. Now we’re looking forward to the next 50 years.”
Senior electrical engineer Mike Smith joined the company as an apprentice more than 17 years ago.
He said: “Having been at the company since the age of 19, I’ve worked in various roles after starting as an apprentice electrician.
“I have always felt supported in my career advancement, learning under the guidance of some excellent electrical engineers. I was even given the time and backing by John Moran to complete my Beng (Hons) first class in building services engineering.
“The company is going from strength-to-strength, and I look forward to further playing my part.”
Senior accounts administrator Kerry Nicol has worked at JPR for more than 20 years.
She said: “I worked for Waterloo Electrical before we merged to form JPR, so moving to a bigger building and meeting new staff was exciting.
“Businesses have all seen some difficult times recently but luckily, we are all still here moving onwards and upwards.”