Pick Everard plan for Growth at AMP Technology Centre

In 2017 Jon Wilson co-founded an engineering consultancy and based it at AMP Technology Centre.  Within 18 months the business grew from two employees to ten, moving into a larger space, before expanding the office again when the team hit 15 in 2019. 

In early 2022, national multidisciplinary consultancy Pick Everard took on the team, but the specialist engineers didn’t move far, opting to remain in AMP Technology Centre where Jon’s journey had first begun.

Now a Pick Everard Director, Jon recalls how important it was to get an office within AMP Technology Centre in those early days. Jon said; “It was fairly central to our strategy to be based here. We’d looked at a range of spaces including city centre options but AMP Technology Centre was at the top of our list. Boeing, McLaren, Rolls Royce – they are all here in the Advanced Manufacturing Park.

“We didn’t get in straight away. I remember writing a long letter to the building owners at the time to convey our passion for the approach they were taking, our commitment to the community and our interconnections with the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector. We knew that the centre was doing something special, clustering same-sector businesses to drive collaborations, innovation and attract talent, and we wanted to be part of it. My father was an engineer in Sheffield’s steel industry, and I’d trained as an engineer straight from school. I’ve been doing this my whole life and I recognised the benefits of co-locating with people who are as passionate as I am about this sector. We were thrilled when we were accepted.” 

As a small South Yorkshire business operating as specialist building services engineers, aligning the business with Pick Everard presented a de-risked opportunity to expand the team. Pick Everard is a national construction and consultancy company employing over 700 people and operating out of 13 offices across the UK. Jon explains; “As part of Pick Everard we are able to work on a much wider variety of projects. Previously we worked a lot with sub-contractors. Now we are involved in much bigger programmes of work directly for clients operating in the local authority, central government, manufacturing, residential and prison services space – to name but a few. At the moment we’re working with a facility that will make the cables that’ll run from Morocco to Devon to carry solar and wind energy. The facility itself will be based in Scotland – and that will be the tallest building in Scotland (same height as the Gherkin!). This will be constructed in the next couple of years and it is wonderful to be able to work on projects like this.”

Pick Everard locate 12 of their team at the AMP Technology Centre office and employ around 18 people in total based in South Yorkshire. 

In the next five years, Jon, who is responsible for the northern region, will look at expansion opportunities across Leeds, Manchester and South Yorkshire.  Specifically, he has plans to bring more multidisciplinary roles into the central team based at AMP Technology Centre.

To learn more about AMP Technology Centre and our workspace offer, please email reception@amptechnologycentre.co.uk

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