In July 2017, Aberla’s investors needed a change of direction – fresh life to be injected into the company. The current Board of Directors were brought in to do exactly that, and within 2 months of the new appointments, the company became one of the first businesses to receive Northern Powerhouse funding. This, along with private backing, equated to £3.8m of investment into the business.

A complete company rebrand followed, as Aberla Services became the Aberla Group, consisting of Aberla Energy, Aberla Utilities and Aberla M&E subsidiaries. A new website was designed, new leadership, new offices and a new beginning.

2018 – Local Blackfriars (Aberla M&E’s first contract win)

Results came fast. The company’s first M&E contract win, Local Blackfriars, generated £6m of revenue for the business. This was followed by a strategic partnership agreement with Domis Construction, positioning Aberla as their go-to contractor to deliver M&E work across the UK. We began to build our portfolio of accreditations, having been awarded our CHAS and ConstructionLine Gold Certificates in 2018.

We weren’t just an M&E company though. We were expanding, and quickly, providing a diverse range of services for our clients.

Aberla Energy’s first contract win came with the £1m contract for Powys County Council to install air source heat pumps in 2018. An agreement with Eon was subsequently signed to deliver solar PV on a national scale.

By the end of 2018 we had the foundation for success, ready to push towards the next level. Group annual turnover increased from £200k to £6m, with contract wins such as the Eon solar PV contract and the £2.3m Crusader Mill project supplementing a secured order book of £24m.

The senior management team kept pushing. 2019 was allocated as a transition year, focusing on driving growth and employing the right people which would allow us to expand our market penetration. And that we did, with new clients such as Carlisle City Council, Northwards Housing, Chester and Cheshire West Council and more.

2019 – Cheshire West & Chester Council Solar PV contract win 

2020 – International Partnership signed

We particularly focused on the fibre industry. The Government had recently stepped up their investment to achieve the target of “full fibre by 2025”, and the Aberla Utilities team had the experience and expertise to establish ourselves as a one-stop-shop for telecommunications infrastructure.

In early 2020, an agreement was signed with Spanish telecoms experts, Gabitel Ingenieros, to provide a class leading digital surveying/design tool, positioning the businesses as a vital supply-chain partner for fibre infrastructure. Since, we have mapped the route for fibre infrastructure to reach 156,000 premises across the UK.