BES celebrates 20th anniversary with Mayor’s visit

Posted by on 7 Dec 2022

Rochdale business BES celebrated its 20th anniversary by welcoming Mayor of Rochdale,  Councillor Ali Ahmed, to its Sandbrook Business Park headquarters. There to greet them were BES chairman Steve Marsh and CEO Zeb Ahmed.

The Mayor was introduced to members of staff, including apprentices, and several of the company’s original start-up team of six, all of whom have an unbroken two decades of service at BES, which now employs 180 people and hit a record £100 million turnover this year.

The Mayor then proceeded to the conference room for a video presentation which outlined how BES has grown over the past 20 years and its greatest achievements and challenges to date.
This includes how the company has become a major employer in Rochdale, nurturing talent through a host of apprenticeship schemes, graduate recruitment initiatives and internship opportunities.
Speaking about the visit, which took place on November 18th, Steve said: “We were delighted to welcome the Mayor for Rochdale to our headquarters so that we could demonstrate what we do. We’re proud to call ourselves a regional employer which supports and develops local people and helps to support the Rochdale and wider north west economy. This ethos is vital to our continued success as we enter our third decade of business expansion.”

Established by Steve, who was recently appointed executive chairman, along with two co-directors in 2002, BES is an expert in the design and construction of specialist facilities for the discovery, development and manufacture of life changing medicines and technologies within the pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Five employees, who were handpicked by Steve when the company was founded, have all played a major part in its success, and are now in senior roles in the business. They comprise senior planner, Mike Capraro, project director, Graham Drew, business support manager, Vanessa Weaver, COO, Paul Marsh and design director, Darren Lewis. This team of six has steered BES from an ambitious start-up to a market leader in its sector, with a multi-disciplinary team delivering multi-million pound turnkey projects from feasibility study through to design, construction and commissioning. Rochdale has remained the BES flagship HQ location, with a southern office in Milton Keynes.

Mayor of Rochdale, Cllr Ali Ahmed , added: “BES has become a force to be reckoned with throughout the Rochdale area and beyond over the past 20 years, growing to become a significant source of employment for our local talent. It was a pleasure to visit BES headquarters today, meet the team and discover what goes on behind the scenes. Here’s to many more years of success for this admirable business.”