A major national plumbing and heating company opened its first branch in the Harrogate district today.
City Plumbing, which is open to trade and the public, is based in one of five units at the former Joe Manby building at Hookstone Park, Harrogate.
Councillor Victoria Oldham, mayor of the district, cut a ribbon to formally open the branch for business this morning.
The mayor cuts the ribbon.
City Plumbing, which is part of the Highbourne Group, employs about 4,500 staff at some 360 branches in the UK and Ireland. The Harrogate site currently has five staff.
Besides selling plumbing and heating products, the new branch also has kitchen and bathroom tops and a range of renewable heating products, including air source heat pumps and solar panels.
Free food and drinks are available to customers visiting today.
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Kasia Demko, City Plumbing’s regional manager who lives in Harrogate, said until today the company’s nearest sites were in Leeds and York, adding:
“We have always wanted to be in Harrogate — we have been looking for the right spot in town. We are very much looking forward to welcoming customers.”
Branch manager Stuart Johnson, who has a background in the plumbing and electrical sector locally, said the company was particularly keen to promote its energy-efficiency products because that was a growing market.
Staff at today’s opening
Jackie Wilson, property manager at Hornbeam Park Developments, which owns the former Joe Manby site, said:
Ripon brothers with 40 years of service reveal why Wolseley is the perfect place to work“We are delighted to see City Plumbing up and running as the anchor tenant at this development. There has been a lot of interest, with two of the remaining four units taken already. I am sure that City Plumbing’s presence will serve as a catalyst to attract tenants for the remaining two units.“
This story is sponsored by Wolseley.
Ripon brothers Andy and Rich Hudson love working at Wolseley’s distribution centre in Melmerby.
Between them they have clocked up almost 40 years of service at the plumbing and heating merchants, which has its UK headquarters in Ripon and Warwick.
In fact it has been somewhat of a family affair, with their father and aunt also working for the firm until retirement.
Andy said:
“My Auntie Connie was with Wolseley for most of her working life and is still the telephone answer service when you ring head office.”
The company, which has a £1.8bn turnover, employs almost 5,000 staff in the UK, of which 270 are based in Ripon and 150 at the distribution centre in Melmerby.
It is Melmerby, a short ten-minute drive from Ripon, where the two brothers are based.
Twenty years of service
Andy said:
“I’m coming up to 20 years service. I started off as a general picker, packer.
“The advantage of working at Wolseley is there is always the opportunity to work somewhere new within the distribution centre and expand your knowledge base.
“I excelled at what I was doing in one area and then I moved into a different area.
“I’ve been trained on various manual handling equipment, fork trucks and more. There are about six or seven trucks I’m actually trained on. So Wolseley invest heavily in their employees to get the best out of them.”
Safety is key.
Varied work
Andy, who is currently working in the stock team, credits his long service to the variety of work.
He said:
“There are always different areas you can work in and different ways you can advance through the company.
“I’ve done various qualifications with Wolseley. I’ve done an NVQ in warehousing. I’ve also just completed a Wolseley Talent Booster and I’m about to start another course shortly through our Wolseley Talent Guild.
“This is in-house training and they have recently invested in the training suite at Ripon head office. So anybody can be put forward for this training by their manager. I’ve completed the training booster for Team Leader and I’m about to start training for manager level.”
Andy said there is always scope for growth at Wolseley.
Wolseley is currently training more than 130 apprentices across the UK and boosting the skills of more than 150 existing employees.
Andy added:
“All the way through there is training and support from your managers. Everybody wants the best out of you.
“I feel very valued and it’s such a nice atmosphere to work in.
“Every day is different. There are no two days the same.”
How it began
Wolseley started life in a very different form in 1887, moving into the heating space in the 1960s. Wolseley moved into Ripon in 1971 as The Wolseley Hughes Group.
It was based on Boroughbridge Road, where it remains to this day, and was made up of three companies OBC, Yorkshire Heating Supplies and Granville Controls.
In 1985, the company expanded its site and by 1996 was known as Wolseley Centres.
Wolseley is a leading specialist provider of plumbing, heating, cooling, and utility products to trade customers. Trading under a number of leading brands including Wolseley Plumb & Parts, Wolseley Pipe, Wolseley Climate, William Wilson, Jointing Tech, Burdens, and Fusion Utilities. It has over 560 branches nationally, three centres of excellence in the utilities space, support centres in Warwick and Ripon, and four distribution centres.
Rich Hudson has worked for Wolseley for almost 18 years and is currently the warehouse Team Leader at Melmerby.
He said:
“There is plenty of variety and plenty of opportunities to keep you interested.
“There are different machines to learn to operate and different departments you can move into – it never gets stale.
“There are also a lot of learning opportunities. Wolseley is currently putting me through an NVQ qualification in leadership and management. They offer qualifications for any area you want to go into.
“I met my lovely wife, who also worked for Wolseley, so they must be doing something right!”
Now is the time to join Wolseley’s distribution centre in Melmerby as a Warehouse Operative. Earn up to £24,211 per annum with generous benefits. Apply today by clicking or tapping here.
Wolseley Talent Guild: A great way to start and progress your career
This article is sponsored by Wolseley.
Beth Stephenson has become a rising star at Wolseley in just ten months with the Ripon company’s award-winning Talent Guild.
The Loughborough University student, who is reading accounting and financial management, was debating where to go for her placement year when she found the perfect fit in Wolseley.
Wolseley is the UK’s leading plumbing, heating and cooling specialist with 560 branches across the UK and its headquarters in Ripon.
The company employs more than 320 people in the city and recently completed a £500,000 refurbishment of the Ripon office.
So this is an exciting time to join the team and there’s no better way to get your foot in the door than through the Wolseley Talent Guild.
A taste of different career paths
The opportunity to move around and learn in different parts of the business through the Wolseley Talent Guild was a major draw for Beth, who is originally from York.
She started in August 2021 with the transactional input team but she has also worked with the tax and treasury teams. Beth, 22, said:
“That experience with different departments has meant it is much easier for me to understand the whole business and piece it altogether.
“It seemed daunting at first but I had heard from other people that they had gone to a business and stayed in one department the entire time – sometimes it’s an area they don’t like.
“Now I know which areas I like so when I progress, I can start my career in the area I like. It’s beneficial for my career but also for Wolseley as I have been able to connect the different teams.
“Ripon is lovely. I am from York so Ripon is similar to York but smaller so it’s a very nice place.
“There are lots of lovely places to walk and lots of independent shops. There’s a new vintage shop that has just opened up too which I am excited about.”
Beth is a student at Loughborough University.
Why join Wolseley?
Wolseley’s award-winning Talent Guild is a great way for employees to ensure progression and realise career goals. This industry-leading approach received formal recognition in December 2021, when Wolseley scooped the HR Excellence Award for Talent Management Strategy of the Year.
It includes apprenticeship programmes, talent boosters and career ladders, right through to more technical qualifications and higher education programmes.
Wolseley is currently training more than 130 apprentices across the UK and boosting the skills of more than 150 existing employees.
When employees progress they will notice that Wolseley strives to do the right thing – whether that is in the way they treat customers, suppliers or employees.
Wolseley knows how to attract, develop and retain the best people. The company offers competitive salary, holiday entitlement, a fantastic pension scheme, life insurance and much more.