Significant growth at two businesses has seen expansion into new space at Mamhilad Park Estate (MPE) and creation of 15 new jobs.
Hughes Bespoke, who produce precision-crafted events, stands and spaces for global brands, has returned to MPE where they were originally based some years ago, having grown by 320% since 2020. Initially taking a 7,500 sq ft industrial unit earlier this year, the business has now more than doubled its space to a 15,900 sq ft and created six new jobs. Next year, it expects to double its space again, with 109 events already planned for 2026, versus 69 delivered this year.
“This is a great location for us, with good transport links and local workforce, and Mamhilad Park Estate also brings significant business rates savings as we look to grow further over the next 12 to 18 months,” said managing director, Kieran Hughes.
“Having had to pivot quite considerably when the pandemic hit, we’ve worked hard to build back our business to be both bigger and stronger. The industry has changed, too, with clients more focused on their sustainability responsibilities, so we need more storage to be able to reuse materials.
“So we have ongoing client contracts in place rather than working on a project basis, which means our own growth is more sustainable and predictable. We confidently expect to be up to 30,000 square feet next year.”
Mr Hughes, who was born locally but now lives in the south east of England, said the team at Mamhilad Park Estate has enabled the business to remain in Wales.
“The labour available locally is second-to-none, so it’s a great location for us. At the same time, the space we have available is fundamental to our business model and has underpinned our recent growth. It’s the flexibility of the Mamhilad Park Estate team, working with us to accommodate our growth, that has enabled us to commit to basing ourselves here in Torfaen, which we’re delighted to do.”
Cwmbran-based PIA UK Ltd specialises in producing accessible print formats including Braille, large print, audio, and electronic files. The company originally wanted to create a replica office over 3,400 sq ft at Mamhilad for disaster recovery purposes. However, business growth has meant that this is now a second thriving base for the company with nine additional jobs already created, taking the number of employees to over 50.
“We work on behalf of public and private sector organisations, producing critical communications for people with a visual impairment, using specialist equipment,” said PIA UK managing director, Sharon Williams.
“Having two spaces in case of an unforeseeable problem affecting one is crucial for us and our clients to sustain a reliable service in all circumstances. The timing was right to invest in a new base and new equipment and Mamhilad was the perfect location, easy for our team to get to and a short distance from our existing space in Cwmbran.
“We needed excellent connectivity for our teams to work in an agile way, so the high speed fibre optic network here delivers that. The Estate team was really accommodating, getting us up and running quickly, and it’s such a luxury to have landlords on site who sort out the cleaning, maintenance and everything else so you can get on with running your business!”
“In the event, the new space has allowed us to add new work and new people as well as the resilience we needed.”
Peter Downes of Mamhilad Park Estate said supporting occupier growth is at the heart of the estate’s offer.
“We see our role as supporting all our occupiers to succeed by providing the environment, facilities, value-for-money, flexibility and services they need,” he said.
“So it’s fantastic to see diverse and significant businesses not just doing well here, but growing, and we’ll continue to underpin sustainable growth among our occupiers in every way we can.”
