Managing director Anthony Bevan made the announcement on the company’s Commercial Vehicle Show stand at the Birmingham NEC, where it was promoting its range of truck and van services.
Located close to Junction 9 of the M6, the new base in Wednesbury, West Midlands, comprises a 17,000 sq ft factory and 5,000 sq ft of offices. Bevan has embarked on a £500,000 refurbishment programme which is scheduled for completion this summer, at which point members of the company team will move in.
Bevan will also retain the production facility in Amber Way, Halesowen, which has also served as its head office since 2006, as well as a second base in Blakeley Hall Road, Oldbury.
The new headquarters on the Wednesbury One industrial estate will allow the company to press ahead with a programme of investment in the Bevan Aftercare division. Launched in 2003, this has taken off in the last five years and today employs 42 mobile engineers who provide planned and emergency maintenance of vehicle bodies and ancillaries, including cranes, tail-lifts and roller shutter doors.
The Bevan Group builds rigid truck and van bodies for many of the biggest and best-known names on Britain’s roads – acquisitions and strategic partnerships entered into over recent years have seen the company add specialist solutions for the drinks and glass industries, as well as tippers, traffic management vehicles and temperature-controlled equipment to its core range of dry freight box, curtainside and dropside bodies.
Meanwhile, in addition to its Aftercare back-up Bevan provides a comprehensive portfolio of support services including Graphics (design as well as application of vehicle liveries), Passport (assistance with European Whole Vehicle Type Approval compliance) and accident repairs and refurbishments (Bevan owns a stake in Wednesbury-based specialist A&R Vehicle Services).
It is all a far cry from 1976, when Anthony’s father Ron launched his bodybuilding firm in Brierley Hill. Ron retired 20 years ago and although now 86, he still takes a keen interest in the family business.
“I started out with just three employees, then took on another couple shortly afterwards,” he recalled, at the company's anniversary celebrations at the Commercial Vehicle Show yesterday (27 April). “So it’s marvellous to see how far the Bevan Group has come, and particularly how much it has grown over the last 10 years or so.”
In addition to Anthony, Ron’s other son Peter is Bevan’s financial director. And from the third generation, Anthony’s son Daniel is now general manager of the Bevan Specialist Products operation in Stone, Staffordshire, while his brother Josh works in logistics planning, and Peter’s son Rob is purchasing manager.
Adds Ron: “The company’s success is all down to the hard work of Peter and Anthony – they have done very well so naturally I’m very proud of them both, while it’s also wonderful to see my grandsons now making their own way in the business.”