Last week Kramp UK and Ireland celebrated with a topping out ceremony at the location of their new building in Biggleswade.

The event saw the entire UK team travelling five minutes around the corner from their current base, to celebrate the final piece of metal framework being added to the new building, which is due to be ready in early 2020.

The final piece of metal which the team watched being lifted into place held ceremonial significance as it had been signed by a group of company representatives, specially chosen by Kramp.

Members of the Kramp team whose names feature on the final piece of metal to be lifted into place

Names featured on the piece included those of members of the UK and Ireland Management team, Des Boyd, UK Sales Director, along with Darren Parnell and Lydie Thacker. Also included were Kramp Groep COO, Tom Wolterinck and Jason Dyball, UK Assistant Logistics Operations Manager.

Alongside the management team were the names of some long-time serving employees, who were included in the ceremony as a thank you to their time in the business. These comprised Tim Imbrich – who, as the longest serving UK member of staff at 43 years, has seen four warehouse moves during his time with the company – plus Helen King, Mike Lindsey, William Grimshaw, and Claire Richardson.

Attendees at the event heard a series of speeches by key figures involved in the project, including one by James Atkinson of developers Gazeley. Kramp say Gazeley are a leading developer and investor of European logistics warehouses who, along with lead contractor VolkerFitzpatrick (one of the leading engineering and construction companies in the UK), are running the project at Gazely’s G-park Biggleswade site. They are currently working with sub-contractors to finish the building internally.

Also addressing the assembled guests on the day were Kramp’s Tom Wolterinck and Des Boyd.

Des welcomed everyone to the ceremony to mark the highest part of the structure being fixed. He made mention of how they were honoured to have their COO from Kramp Group, Tom Wolterinck in attendance alongside representatives from Gazeley, the main contractor, VolkerFitzpatrick, also some key members of the professional team who had supported them in the project including architects, engineers, planners and cost consultants.

Des Boyd was given the blue spade by Gazeley’s representative James Atkinson

He spoke about the development of the new building and the relationship between the different companies involved. He also gave a special thanks to all those at Kramp who had been involved in the undertaking, for all their hard work to bring the project this far.

“It is significant that Kramp Groep has decided to invest in this new building and in the UK at this uncertain time,” said Des. “This shows we have confidence in the UK market and what we at Kramp UK and Ireland are doing and have achieved over the last few years.

“We have had consistent growth due to the hard work and commitment from our employees in Logistics, Sales, Finance Purchasing, IT, HR and Data and Product management - so amassive thank you to you all.”

Des continued, saying, “We are also committed to staying in Biggleswade. This is because we want to retain the knowledge and skills of our employees here.

“Kramp’s USP is that we have the widest range of agricultural parts and accessories in Europe - this sets us apart from our competitors. Our new building allows us to stock double the number of products than we previously could and ensures better delivery to our customers.” 

Des went on to explain how their partnerships with manufacturers have a huge impact on their business and how they will continue to work with partners and suppliers to increase their offering.

Des concluded, “Our route to market and the dynamics of the agricultural industry are changing all the time. We need to be better, faster and more flexible to ensure our continued prosperity.”