Civil engineering experts Tri-Tech Contracting Limited marked its first year in business with a turnover of nearly £1million – a journey that began with its first lead at EEEGR’s SNS2024.
Managing Director Jon Skillen and Operations Director Kelvin Ansah-Akrofi stepped into the SNS exhibition hall in May 2024 with no projects on the books ready to meet potential clients and start work.
Armed with new business cards, a website, accreditations, business insurance and years of experience on high profile projects including the Gull Wing Bridge project, Sizewell C and multiple major rail projects, they gained their first lead in the SNS exhibition hall.
This turned into Tri-Tech Contracting’s first contract – a substantial-sized piece of work with EEEGR member Stowen – last year’s One to Watch winner at our End of Year Awards – with an offshore wind developer and operator.
“SNS in 2024 was the first time we showed our faces as Tri-Tech,” said Jon.
“We met Keiron and Kane Ford, of Stowen, who had a piece onshore construction work.”
The project was handed over on time, to budget with no safety issues, leading to more work for Stowen and its international client. The business picked up more work, including the Lasdon Wall project for Mace, which Tri-Tech has been involved in from the start.
More energy and rail projects – where its expertise and experience started – are developing for the future.
“When we started, we had a lot of prospects and enthusiasm but no actual work on the books. This week we are working on five sites, for five different clients, not including our safety critical bookings for rail.”
The energy industry provided an unexpected springboard for the new business.
“When we started, we expected rail to be our supporting business because Kelvin has a lot of experience and contacts in rail, with work in the energy industry taking more time, but it was the other way round.
“Making our first real lead at SNS, which turned into our first project led to energy taking the lead,” Jon said.
“We met people at SNS who were interested in some of our work, made contacts who express some interest in us looking at work and had a couple of offers.
“Our geographical position is right for energy work with offshore wind, Sizewell, solar and battery storage and interconnectors.
“Sizewell C is such a massive project even a “small project” is a substantial one for a small business,” Jon said.
The first year’s turnover of “just shy of £1m” is an achievement that the team of six should be “hugely proud of, and far beyond my expectations.”
“We have had so many successes, that have enabled us to grow so quickly, it is hard to list them all but a few notable landmarks have been obtaining our suite of ISO standards 9001/14001/4500, re-accrediting our RISQS and Constructionline Gold and finally getting our first bookings in February for our safety critical offering.”
Last month, Tri-Tech Contracting, based in OrbisEnergy, Lowestoft, started its largest project, an order for £300k.
With the business, clients secure “a major contractor in a miniature size” with huge expertise in temporary works of any size on big construction projects, designing compounds, access roads and bespoke facilities to enable major infrastructure build.
“It is never off the shelf solutions; it is complicated work to support every project. Flexibility and responsiveness are how we differentiate ourselves from the competition.”