Anniversary boost for support group

Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi) has a strong order book, has installed furniture in Denver, Chicago and New Jersey and is looking to expand its office in Batley, West Yorkshire.

The firm was set up by Andy Graham after abadoning life in Zimbabwe and moving to the UK with just 300. Today, Bbi has 57 staff and three British offices.

Mr Graham said: "I arrived in the UK, from a troubled Zimbabwe, with pretty much the clothes I stood up in with and a young family to support. However, I immediately felt at home here and decided it was the perfect place to start afresh."

The businessman spent two years working for a fitout company for two years before setting up Bbi. It was helped by a number of early contract wins, such as a deal to supply cupboards to Capita that ended up with it becoming a long-standing client.

Bbi's first 1m contract came 10 years after it was set up and was with Zurich Financial Services, which was followed by a 1m project a year later with Computershare.

Lloyds Banking Group, as it is now known, remains a client after 21 years.

Mr Graham said that Bbi, which has offices in Batley, Brecon and Gloucester, was doing well despite the recession.

"This financial year we came in with an order book of 4m and picked up 2.5m of work in just the first two months. Our largest contract to date is 3.6m for Chelton (Electrostatistics) in north London, and we hope to continue winning more projects of this scale."

Simon Oldroyd, group sales and marketing director, said Bbi is planning to increase the number of staff in its Yorkshire office from six to 10 in May.

The firm, which has five equal shareholders, provides facilities support services, including interior design, space planning, mechanical and electrical design and project management. It has fitted out The Cardiff Arms, the Welsh Rugby Union's shop and cafe bar on Westgate Street, in Cardiff, and built data centres for firms like communications giant Mitel.