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www.lincolnshireecho.co.uk/business
Thursday December 31, 2015
MEET MY TEAM
‘We turned credit crunch
into a chance to develop
interior design skills’
nicholas.fletcher@lincolnshireecho.co.uk @NickFletcher_LE
NICHOLAS FLETCHER
F
or many Lincoln businesses, the
recession marked a downturn
in profits and a reduction in
staff sizes.
But Darren Crookes,
managing director of interior
design company Apss, saw the
financial crisis as an opportunity.
Darren and his team specialise in
designing state-of-the-art office
interiors for clients across the
country, including big-hitters such
as Siemens.
Formed in 1997, the business has
gone from strength to strength and
recently reported a £20 million
turnover after completing a number
of high-profile jobs.
Originally a product-based supply
company, Mr Crookes says its
success comes from adapting the
business to offer interior design and
streamlining the process for
prospective customers.
The 46-year-old said: “When I
started, there were a lot of
companies that were over-structured.
“What happened in the height of
the recession is a lot of people cut
staff – which meant that we began
dealing with the owners directly,
rather than middle-men.
Eric Elmslie, 59, is a project
manager living in East
Markham, Nottinghamshire.
“I had recently moved and was
looking for a new challenge in
my career. That was nearly nine
years ago.
“The challenges can be the
number of projects ongoing at
any one time, although it is
more a motivation to succeed.
“I once appeared in a BBC TV
documentary about cricket.”
Opportunity knocks: MD Darren Crookes changed the focus of Apss
“They wanted plans put together
for them, to keep it simple.
“We saw that as an opportunity to
put together the design and make it
easier for them.”
The recession also forced many
businesses who were hoping to move
to bigger premises to renovate their
existing sites. Again, this helped
Apss, according to Mr Crookes.
“Lots of companies who were
hoping to move to bigger buildings
had to stay in their current
locations, which opened up another
opportunity for us,” he said.
“Again, this encouraged us to
expand into interior design and now
we do some external work too.
“We don’t just do big jobs either
and believe that if we look after our
smaller customers, when they do
well we can go along with them.”
The ever-expanding business
How
took on three employees many recently
taking its overall team size up to 49.
millions The business, handles around 750
of
jobs a year and is growing, but Mr
pounds Crookes said it is important to
expand in the right way.
Apss
“The biggest risk you can make is
spent
to keep growing and growing
on
without having the infrastructure
joinery in the backend to support it because
items a the wheels will come off quickly.”
However, the team is hoping to
year
before land a multi-million-pound job to
setting design Virgin’s new offices in York.
Apss has also opened its own
up its joinery
so it can produce bespoke
own
office equipment and furniture.
joinery Mr Crookes said: “We were
spending close to £3 million on
joinery items a year before we set it
up by investing £250,000 – it’s made
a difference.”
The team usually competes with
two to three rivals for any one job.
Plans can take between eight to ten
days to draw up with completion of
the project varying depending on its
size.
And while Apss spends more on
the initial plans than most, Mr
Crookes believes investing in a good
pitch is the key to securing the job.
“We are really confident that if we
put in a good offer we will come in
at the right price,” he said.
Mr Crookes says the biggest
challenge facing the business is
managing its growth and building
the infrastructure to support it.
He is also looking to invest in an
electrical and mechanical business.
“My ambition was not to grow the
business this big, but we are really
happy,” he said. “I love it and think
we offer a great service.”
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Joe Mason, 24, is a designer
living in West Parade, Lincoln.
“I love the diverse projects and
dynamic design applications I
get to work on – architectural,
interior, furniture, graphics,
layouts and so on.
“I once was asked to leave a
practice studio because my
band were ruining Tony
Christie’s album recording.
“It flopped – I think we’d have
made it better.”
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Charlie Mason, 41, is a quantity
surveyor from Middle Rasen.
“Apss were looking for a
surveyor and I was approached
by an old friend, I haven’t
looked back ever since!
“The challenges are working
to extremely tight deadlines
and budget, but that keeps it
interesting.
“Apparently, I do not have a
sense of humour… I think I am
very funny!”
John Bysouth, 29, is a joinery
production manager from
Sleaford.
“I love problem solving and
managing the different aspects
of joinery production.
“Being surrounded by a tight
network of highly skilled people
all eager to help allows you to
deliver a better project with
better results.
“An unusual fact about myself?
I can count to ten in Korean.”
Stuart Marsland, 39, is sales
manager. He lives in North
Hykeham, Lincoln.
“I worked with Apss when I
was in the facilities team at
Alstom (now Siemens). I jumped
at the chance to form the CAD
team back in 1999.
“I love the variety of projects I
am involved in and seeing them
develop from conception to
completion is very rewarding.
“I always set things to even
numbers – volume and so on.”