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Wednesday October 11 2017
EXPANSION FIRMLY ON FIRM’S RRADAR Move to new offices complement ambitious legal company’s plans By Henry Saker-Clark henr y.saker-clark@hulldailymail.co.uk
A HULL law firm that is revolutionising the way clients access legal services has moved to new offices to accommodate its expansion and rapidly increasing recruitment. rradar, which was established in 2012 by leading corporate defence lawyer Gary Gallen, has taken a three-storey, 15,000sq ft office at The Beacon, a business development by the Horncastle Group. The move comes after rradar outgrew its Livingstone Road headquarters in Hessle, expanding from just Mr Gallen five years ago to a staff of about 100 people. The firm plans to employ about 120 staff by the end of the year. The new building is situated off Clive Sullivan Way, just a mile from Hull city centre, and has space to more than double current staffing numbers, facilitating the fir m’s ambitious growth plans. Mark Smith, rradar’s IT director, said the company had been looking to move but wanted to remain close to its previous base to minimise disruption to staff. He said: “We started on one floor of our previous office and grew to the point where the rradar team was distributed over two-and-a-half buildings, which is not a great way to run a business. “We had been looking for a new headquarters for some time. We wanted to retain our connection to the Humber estuary, and remain fairly close to where we were to minimise disruption. “When Horncastle heard we were looking for somewhere, they approached us to talk about The Beacon. The development obviously ticked a lot of our boxes, so after considerable thought, we decided to commit.” The firm has worked alongside insurance giant AXA to develop an organised and more clearly prepared approach to
Hull company moving into business park A LONG-standing Hull business that started life as a brass foundry is relocating its manufacturing to a business Park in Brough. Shipham Valves, recently bought by Wartsila Valves, is moving its manufacturing facilities to a 60,000sq ft premises in Humber Enterprise Park in Brough from its current base in Hawthorn Avenue, west Hull. Set up in 1798, the firm began life as a foundry supplying fishing and commercial shipping on the Humber, but is now looking to the future and a “state-of-the-art” manufacturing process. Chris Harding, managing director of Shipham Valves, said: “The facility gives us a blank canvas to establish a state-of-the-art, highlyflexible and modular manufacturing footprint. “It also provides room for significant expansion and, more importantly, gives a greater opportunity to become more operationally excellent, which is of significant benefit to our customers.” The company will operate alongside other business park tenants, which include software specialists itim, Dearing Plastics Limited and Crafty Little Brewery. James Appleton-Metcalfe, managing director of park owner Citivale, said: “Humber Enterprise Park is proud of its own important heritage, so we are delighted to welcome a Hull business that also has a long history. “The park offers excellence to ambitious firms as demonstrated by the fact that we are continuing to to attract exciting new tenants like Shipham Valves.” PPH Commercial secured the letting, which is one of the largest industrial transactions to take place in the region this year.
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REVOLUTIONISING THE LAW: Clockwise, from left, Gary Gallen, CEO of rradar; The Beacon; Ian Hodges, left, MD of the Horncastle Group, shaking hands with Mark Smith, IT director of rradar, outside its new HQ, The Beacon.
NEW HOME: Humber Enterprise Park.