Bognor Regis company needs more workers and more space

Eight new employeers were taken on by the URT Group on Monday (July 18).

Talks have also begun on moving in to an extra 35,000sq ft at Heath Place to add to the 50,000sq ft which was officially opened last week.

Friday’s formal ceremony at the landmark building on Ash Grove was performed by MP Nick Gibb. He said: “This is exactly the kind of company we want in Bognor.

“These are very difficult times for our country but this company was started about ten years ago with £3,000 of hard-saved money.

“It employed 30 people a year ago and now has 88. By September, it will be up to 120.”

The firm’s turnover has also rocketed in the past year from £2.5m to £6.5m.

Matt Cox, a director and joint founder with Paul Walters, said the firm had spent more than £1m fitting out an area of Heath Place which had been empty for six-and-a-half years.

“These are very exciting times and our staff are very happy with our new home as we are. “Today is a very proud day for us after 18-24 months of planning and hard work.

“It is about showing our customers and suppliers what what we have achieved in a relatively short amount of time,” he said.

URT Group, or Universal Race Technologies, creates and makes lightweight hi-tech composite components - such as carbon fibre - for Formula 1 cars and the defence industry among other markets.

One of its current contracts is to make the ballistic-proof pod for the new Foxhound light protected patrol vehicle for the Ministry of Defence.

This will help to save lives among soldiers in Afghanistan.

The firm was originally based on the Southern Cross Industrial Estate.

It has kept those 18,000sq ft premises as its expansion has gathered pace.

Its growth is good news for Bognor’s jobs market.

An in-house training centre has been opened.

The first 30 ‘graduates’ have gone through. A further 30 will follow in the next few months.