Nicholls Colton Group Celebrates Re-Brand with Key Staff
14 July 2011

The Nicholls Colton Group has just announced the launch of a company-wide rebrand. Joint Managing Directors Ian Elliot and Alex Warwick invited key staff members to a launch party hosted by Leicester snooker star Willie Thorne at the fabulous Hotel Maiyango in the City Centre.

Established in 1965, and starting out as a materials testing laboratory and consultancy, today Nicholls Colton is a dynamic multi-disciplinary organisation providing a whole raft of services to the construction industry - geotechnical and contaminated land consultancy; structural design; a contaminated land testing laboratory; a materials testing laboratory; on site monitoring and an ability to investigate and test bridges, highways and railways.

At the heart of the company are joint managing directors Ian Elliot and Alex Warwick, both of whom have worked at the company for over 20 years. In 2005 they completed a successful management buyout following the retirement of the previous owners, and they soon embarked upon a strategy of broadening the scope of the company's services.

In 2007 they invested heavily in a bold plan to expand the existing materials testing laboratory into a state of the art contaminated land testing facility - the only one of its kind in the East Midlands - taking the Company from two trading arms to three. And then in 2010, they opened a Structural Department, adding further to their already substantial offering.

Despite the tough economic climate in the construction industry, under Alex and Ian's leadership, the Group has gone from success to success, and now operates under four separate divisions - Geotechnical, Testing, Analytical and Structural.

As part of their vision for the future of the Company, Ian and Alex chose to modernise and up-date their corporate image by undertaking a full re-brand and re-positioning of the Company. During an intensive six month period, they redesigned all elements of the business, from the company logo, to stationery, to brochures and to a newly designed and state of the art website, to name just a few.

The rebrand underlines the commitment of both Managing Directors to invest in their business during a period where many businesses are looking to cut back on marketing and communications spend.

At the heart of the re-brand is the desire to demonstrate a clear cohesion between the four arms of the business, all trading under the new Group identity. The key messages for each department are now much more powerfully communicated, with the overall message being that here is a company with expertise across the board.

Key staff at Nicholls Colton were given a preview of the newly designed logo's, brochures and other material at a Launch Party at the Hotel Maiyango. Needless to say, they were delighted not just by the re-brand, but by the surprise presence of Willie Thorne, who hosted the event.

Willie Thorne said:
"What Alex and Ian have done to take the company forward is incredibly impressive, and it's great to see a local company doing so well. Ian and Alex are understandably well regarded by their staff, a number of whom I have met today; and they are all committed to helping this company become ever more successful. I wish them well for the future."

Ian Elliot said:
"Alex and I have worked hard to build and grow the Nicholls Colton Group since our successful buy out in 2005, and we remain focused and committed to ensuring that it continues to expand in the future"

Alex Warwick said:
"It has been a pleasure to watch the company grow in recent years, and with this re-brand, we expect to raise our profile further and build upon our success"