Lancashire engineering services group celebrates 30 year milestone

RJ Urmson started out as a small family business but has grown to become a group of companies noted for its heating ventilation and air conditioning, water and fire protection, and engineering work.

The firm was the vision of Robert Urmson who had been working at Sellafield as a sub-contractor and, aged just 23, decided he did not want to go back to working for another company so set up his own in the back room of a terraced house.

Rob’s father helped on the first contract secured, while all reports were hand produced with Rob’s Mum and wife Louise typing them up using an old typewriter and carbon paper. With the increase in business and contracts, within the first 18 months Rob employed his first assistant.

By 1998 the business had grown to a point where it needed its first office, located in the Chorley Business Technology Centre.

After a further period of growth, RJ Urmson moved to its present home at Fellery Street in Chorley, in 2006, where it occupies two floors of office space and employs more than 60.

Since it started in 1992, the RJ Urmson Group has grown into a group of five companies – RJ Urmson Commissioning Engineering Ltd, Urmson Fire Specialist Ltd, Urmson LLP, National Hygiene Services Ltd and B&R Consulting Engineers in the Isle of Man.

As a group it offers a unified approach to HVAC, critical ventilation, commissioning, water treatment, fire systems, mechanical and electrical, building and facility management engineering services.

Chief executive Robert Urmson, said: “This is an amazing milestone for any company, and I am incredible proud of our achievements as a business and as a team.

"From it being just myself and my family in the beginning working on projects, we now currently employ more than 60 members of staff some of which have been fundamental to the development of each section and service we now offer as a group of companies.”

Being an independent commissioning engineering company, RJ Urmson differs to others in the market, being one of the few that fit, service and maintain a wide range of manufacturer parts in the different industries they serve.

As a group the company has provided services to hospitals, schools and public building across the United Kingdom and it has carried work out in the middle east (Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar) and within Europe (Budapest and France).