SM UK expands with £3m Midlands workshop

Auto engineering and vehicle safety firm SM UK has expanded with a £3 million 13,000 sq ft vehicle conversion workshop in the Midlands.

The facility is the firm’s second, and launches this month, one year after the company opened its first vehicle conversion centre in Leeds.

Its new workshop is located in Tamworth, close to the M42 motorway network.

SM UK managing director Steve MacDonald said: “Our northern conversion centre in Leeds has proved a huge success in the year since it launched, enabling us to collect and work on customers’ vehicles in a professional and modern environment without taking up time and space at their own premises.

“We’re opening the new Midlands centre on the same model as our Leeds workshop.”

Its initial workforce of ten is set to grow quickly, with a new hires expected and an apprenticeship programme planned for the coming months.

As well as fitting the firm’s HALO cyclist awareness system, the new workshop will be used to install other safety kit, as well as commercial vehicle CCTV and internal racking systems that are designed to make on-board tool and equipment storage safer and more efficient.

MacDonald added: “it will be a great resource for our many existing Midlands-based customers, including Mercedes, Volvo and DAF.

“We are extremely well located for the Leicester, Birmingham and Northampton areas, and we hope to attract new clients in the region as we grow.

“Our team have worked hard to ensure the new centre is fully kitted out in time for our new year launch and we will be more than ready for the new 2020-registration vehicles in March.”

Its new Tamworth operation centre will have the capacity to house up to 24 large trucks.

The business was founded by Mr MacDonald in 2000 and over the last year it has grown its UK wide team and its apprenticeship programme.

MacDonald’s company now has 62 members of staff across its Leeds and Midlands workshops.