Reflex Marine has transformed a 19th Century former school house in Truro into a sustainable new home for its expanding team. The new office space was officially opened on Wednesday, May 1, by Sarah Newton MP, with the Mayor of Truro, Lindsay Southcombe, amongst the guests.
Reflex Marine has offices across the world with its headquarters located in Cornwall. The team has moved to the Old School House in Shortlanesend from Newham Industrial Estate following extensive refurbishment of the Grade Two-listed building.
Reflex Marine employs 12 members of staff in Truro and is expecting to continue to grow rapidly, with a likely addition of five new jobs within the next year. The company is on track to achieve 27% growth in the current financial year.
CEO and co-founder of Reflex Marine, Philip Strong, said:
"As a company we wear our social and environmental values on our sleeve and we feel that the creation of this new high quality office space will reflect that. We also aim to engage positively with the people of Shortlanesend and we hope to add real value to the community."
Reflex Marine has been delighted with the execution of the project and worked with Truro architects Barlow Stott, in collaboration with Barcelona-based Zest architects, to design the Old School House. All contract work was completed by Ian Carter Builders of St Austell.
Reflex Marine employed Cornish energy efficiency specialists Independent Energy to assist in creating a green workspace which includes a modern wood pellet boiler.
The Old School House has been extensively insulated, while the traditional arched windows have been double-glazed. Mr Strong added:
"Cornwall is a great place to do business. From the communications and logistics perspective, it can be a challenge. However, this is offset by the great people we have managed to employ and retain.
"We feel well supported in Truro by a great extended team that understands what it takes to succeed in international business."
In January this year, Reflex Marine won the Training Programme of the Year category at the Cornwall College Excellence in Business Training Awards.
The company holds the Investors in People Silver Award, and aims to achieve the Gold standard by summer 2014.