People First in £30,000 Office Refurbishment

Blackheath Products has invested £30,000 into a refurbishment of its Halesowen HQ to enable its 115 staff to work more closely together.

The business is part-way through the overhaul of its Fairfield Park site, the aim of which is to improve staff well-being and aid communication, thereby enhancing customer service.

Founded in 1959, Blackheath Products has operated from Fairfield Park since 1987.

The objective of the revamp was to enhance working relationships within the business, while improving understanding of the varying roles and responsibilities of personnel.

Part of the refurb will see the demolition of some of the offices at the site which were used by logistics staff, releasing 100 sq m. While that might sound an insignificant amount of space, it will have a real impact on the flow of material handling equipment in the warehouse and allow for improved pedestrian access.

The business has carried out an extensive refit of several large open plan offices, relocating and uniting teams, installing new lighting and electrics, new furniture, filing areas and IT equipment, as well as a drinks station.

The company has also ensured that the refurbishment allowed plenty of natural light into the workspace, something that the team believes is extremely important to people’s well-being in an office environment.

Will Lane, Logistics Director, said: “We’re very pleased with the result - By having our teams integrated more closely, we’re all benefitting from improved communication and understanding, something that we’ve carried through to the adjacent kitchen products sales office and our purchasing department, further encouraging communication and enabling us to improve efficiency and customer service,”

While 100,000 sq ft of the Blackheath Products HQ is dedicated to storage of stock, the business had not wanted to focus the refurbishment into providing additional warehouse space.

“Stock control has never been an issue – we have a vast range on site at all times, and we wanted to make sure that the additional space we were able to create was better utilised for the comfort and wellbeing of the team that works there. The response from the team has been very positive and I hope that relationships continue to develop as a result of the overhaul.”

“We now have a newly open-plan office with one exception -  the vital route-planning responsibilities that fall to our transport manager, who has to set routes and payload for each of our 24 commercial vehicles for the following day’s deliveries – something that we decided simply couldn’t be done in a noisier, busy office environment,” Will added.