Leep Utilities prepares for further regional growth with southeast office move
Leep Utilities has highlighted its commitment to growth across the south of England by moving to larger office premises in Berkshire.
The leading owner and operator of last-mile utility networks began operating from Reading following its acquisition of SSE Water almost four years ago.
Overnight, Leep become the largest UK operator in the New Appointments and Variations (NAV) market - gaining over 20,000 live customers across 28 sites in southern England and Wales, along with a pipeline of further connections, as well as six members of staff as part of the deal.
Since then, Leep Utilities’ Reading team has grown substantially - as has its customer base and scale. It now comprises 30 employees and the new office provides a home for even greater collective experience, expertise and capabilities – all working with some of the UK’s leading housebuilders and developers.
To accommodate this exponential rise in headcount and customers, Leep now works from Green Park, on the southern outskirts of Reading – home to the recently opened Reading Green Park Station. This new office space also has a 12-person boardroom and choice of meeting rooms – all with the latest audio-visual technology.
Conveniently located along the M4 corridor, and a 20-minute train ride to central London, it’s a sustainable working environment that’s already home to several international corporations – including PepsiCo, Bayer, Thales and Virgin Media – as well as many other ambitious, forward-thinking SMEs.
Leep Utilities has a total UK workforce of over 120 working across two office locations. In order to accommodate its expansion and success across the north of England, the company relocated its headquarters into larger premises in Salford, Greater Manchester in June last year. It’s now followed suit, following similar success, in the south.
Matthew Ling, Director of Leep Utilities, said: “Our growth strategy is bold, and we’re delighted to have recently reported our most successful trading year since our inception six years ago. To enable us to continue to develop at such rate and scale – with a particular focus across the south of England and, in particular, in central London and within the M25 - we’ve placed a real focus on recruitment, and I’m delighted to say we’ve attracted some very high calibre colleagues across all levels of the organisation. I speak for the entire team here when I say that we’re all very much looking forward to the next phase of our expansion – there are, without a doubt, exciting times ahead for us.”
Louise Manfredi, CEO of Leep Utilities, said: “Our Reading office move coincides with the recent announcement of us receiving further investment from Ancala Partners’ £551million growth fund. The leading infrastructure financier made its first investment in Leep in 2017 and has since helped us to secure new sites, make acquisitions, create jobs and contract over 100,000 multi-utility connections to UK homes and major businesses.
“We now have a brilliant team in place that’s committed to growing our name and service offering even more, amongst a wider market than ever - offering developers, contractors and consultants across the whole of the UK a flexible last-mile utility solution.
“Whether that’s for new residential, commercial and mixed-use developments – to adopt electricity, water or heating networks, or a combination of them all – we now have an enviable nationwide presence and structure that well equips us to secure the many opportunities open to us.