A multinational company has celebrated its 140th birthday by giving its UK base in Hemel Hempstead a vote of confidence.
Atlas Copco, based in Sweden but employing about 200 people in Swallowdale Lane, has been in town since the 1950s.
Speaking to Business Eye at a celebration lunch in the Renaissance Hotel, St Pancras, a senior leader at the firm said the company is about to invest in jobs and new ways of working.
Kevin Prince, general manager / director at Atlas Copco Construction and Mining in the UK and Ireland, said Hemel Hempstead was also the firm competence centre for engineered packages.
“It is growing rapidly and we’re opening up our competencies here for the rest of the world.
“We have an investment proposal to double the size of the workshop.”
The competence centre has grown from seven to just fewer than 50 now with an aim of doubling the size in the next five years.
“We don’t have a shortage of enquiries for that business,” he added.
The Hemel Hempstead offices of Atlas Copco are also being lined up for a £2million-plus investment in new ways of working. It will be a pilot for the rest of the Swedish-based business.
It is being called an “Activity Based Workplace” and will involve an open place office with no separate offices for managers. It will allow people to work remotely and be office based if they have to be.
Mr Prince said it would be a different approach to working and would take the pressure off the area’s limited car parking.
He said: “The limited parking won’t be a problem as we expand as people won’t be in the offices all the time.”
Atlas Copco has 694 employees in the UK and Ireland, with its sales nerve centre in Hemel. The business, which has a presence in more than 90 countries makes and sells equipment across a huge range of industries, including industrial compressors and mining equipment. The business is also keen on apprenticeships and internships, working with schools and colleges in the Hemel Hempstead area to encourage young people to consider careers in engineering.