An innovative Teesside utilities group has started the year strong after adding to its team and increasing turnover in 2020.
The Everflow Group, which is made up of business water retailer Everflow Water and software company Everflow Tech, was set up by managing director Josh Gill in 2015 with headquarters in Wynyard Business Park, and a branch in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, which opened in 2019. Despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19, the group has continued to grow, investing in both its existing team and new members of staff.
Josh said: “We added about 28 new roles in 2020, which represents an increase of more than 50 per cent. “We also doubled the office space we have in Wynyard to accommodate the growth, while continuing to invest significantly in our tech software platform, Eclipse.
“And while, like all businesses, Covid-19 has had an impact on us and our activity, we still recorded turnover of £57m for 2020, up 16 per cent on the previous year.” With a continuing commitment to investing in its people, as well as a growing focus on the tech arm of the group, two key appointments this year were Leeanne Hedley as head of talent, along with John Millichap as head of client services at Everflow Tech.
Josh said: “We recognised that we were going to experience significant growth and we recruited Leeanne to ensure that we could continue to invest in our people and keep our culture and values protected as we scale. “Leeanne really understands people and what motivates them. She puts a smile on everyone’s face as she’s incredibly energetic and charismatic, but she has a real focus on giving clarity to people on how their roles contribute to the overall success of the business.
“As head of client services, John brings a wealth of experience when it comes to business process management and continuous improvement, which will help us drive forward the quality of our output in software development.”
The firm was also added to the latest Crown Commercial Service retail water framework, giving it the opportunity to tender for public sector projects. The agreement, which runs for four years until the end of November 2024, has an estimated value of £2bn. Josh said: “I’m really pleased we all made it through 2020 in such a strong position, especially with being added to the CCS framework, although having to scale back some of our growth plans due to the pandemic has been frustrating.
“However, we continued to prioritise growth and taking on customers, recognising that the period represented both a risk but also a huge opportunity. “In 2021, recruitment will be continuing across the board, and we aim hope to grow the team by another 20 per cent in the next 12 months.
“We could not have achieved the success we have without our key relationships with brokers and customers alike so we’d like to thank them all, and the whole Everflow team is looking forward to seeing what 2021 brings.”
