Uform welcomed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris MP to its Toomebridge facility on Wednesday 8th May as part of the Northern Ireland Office Business Engagement Plan.
The conversations had with the Secretary of State went into length about how the availability of industrial land is important to help scale businesses, attracting new talent and retaining the current workforce alongside how businesses could be supported through cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar.
Commenting on the visit, the Secretary of State said:
“I had a fantastic time during my visit to Uform, a company that has had a remarkable growth journey and ambitious plans to grow even further.
“The UK Government is committed to ensuring that businesses of all sizes and sectors across the entire breadth of the UK can realise the benefits of international trade by improving their export capabilities and skills.”
Having celebrated 30 years of business in 2023, Uform Group CEO, Simon Oliphant spoke about the significant success of the company in recent years, what the future holds in terms of the company’s 5-year growth plan and more notably, areas where government support will be pivotal going forward, “We were delighted to welcome Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris MP to our facilities here in Toomebridge. For businesses to thrive, we need to move away from myopic policies, policymakers need to shift the focus and develop longer term strategies. Success can only be measured over a sustained timeframe. Thankfully, the site we occupied had land set aside via Invest NI for industrial development. Over the last 10 years we have built 6 separate extensions, and the availability of the land was paramount. This alongside the road and infrastructure improvements have been significantly beneficial to our growth.”
Discussions highlighted the importance of supporting similar, fundamental long-term initiatives which facilitate economic prosperity.
During the visit, the Minister toured the 225,000 sq ft manufacturing facility to include state of the art painting technology, warehousing and the company’s award-winning Design Centre.
