More green shoots for Green-tech as Yorkshire Banks Harrogate FSC backs growth plans

03/01/2012

EIGHT new jobs have been created by a North Yorkshire landscaping and horticulture products manufacturing and distribution business in a year which has also seen it achieve record turnover.

New jobs for drivers, sales staff, administrators and specifiers have been created by Green-tech Ltd, Sweethills Business Park, Nun Monkton, supported by Yorkshire Bank’s Harrogate Financial Solutions Centre (FSC) through the Bank’s Investing for Growth initiative.

Creating the new jobs is part of a record 12 months for Green-tech Ltd, which has also seen the business open new soil production sites, extend its premises and boost turnover from £7.1m to £9.6m and hit £1m turnover in three separate months – February, March and November (2011) - for the first time.

The business, which operates out of 30,000 sq. ft. of warehousing and offices, has also built a new store for tree-planting supplies and an additional 7,000 sq. ft. of office space to cater for current and future staff increases.

Green-tech Ltd was founded by husband-and-wife team, Richard and Rachel Kay, in 1994 when they had a first year £160,000 turnover from supplying maintenance products to Yorkshire golf courses. The company’s turnover has since doubled every four years and Rachel Kay is now managing director while Richard Kay is chairman.

Now the business, which has 42 staff , manufactures and distributes a range of 3,000 different products - from tools to soil aggregates - which protect and enhance plants and their immediate landscape. These are supplied to large-scale operations including the Forestry Commission, local authorities, health authorities, hotel chains, water authorities, sports grounds and facilities management enterprises throughout the UK as well as exporting.

Other expansion has also seen Green-tech Ltd create three additional top soil sites manufacturing topsoil and bespoke soil mixes to meet regional growing conditions. Green-tech’s topsoil is approved to British Standards and has been used in many high-profile projects across the UK.

Rachel Kay said: “We offer the most extensive product range in our sector in the UK and this, coupled with the fact that we manufacture some items to control quality, is behind our expansion. We are a one-stop-shop for most items our customers need so when they order they get one delivery by lorry rather than ten different vehicles and administration work is also simplified.

“We’ve been with Yorkshire Bank Harrogate FSC for several years and are pleased that it is supporting our business development through its Investing for Growth initiative.”

Yorkshire Bank Harrogate FSC business partner, Andy Hay, said: “Green-tech Ltd is a great example of a growing business with the right mix between manufacture and distribution to continue to expand and we are pleased to be supporting them through our Investing for Growth initiative.”

Yorkshire Bank’s Harrogate FSC is part of Yorkshire Bank’s York-based North Yorkshire FSC covers the whole of York and North Yorkshire, apart from Craven District. The FSC has the biggest Agri-Business Team in the bank’s UK network and operates a traditional method of banking with funding from deposits used to support investments in the local community.