Leading electrical firm NES has been praised in the UK Parliament for ambitious expansion plans and its commitment to recruiting apprentices.
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry has tabled an Early Day Motion congratulating the success of NES (North Electrical Services) Ltd, which has bases in Inverness and Elgin.
NES has more than quadrupled its permanent workforce to 60 since setting up in 2012 and is now targeting another four-fold increase and a move into the central belt.
Mr Hendry highlights NES’s aims to grow the workforce to 250, and increase its turnover from between £3 million-£4 million to around £12 million-£15 million.
He also welcomes news that NES has recruited four new apprentice electricians, underlining its ongoing commitment to developing young people.
The company, which is renowned for its apprentice scheme and ‘grow your own’ staff policy, has based the new trainees in Inverness and Elgin. It brought the total number of apprentices at both sites to 15.
NES’s services include industrial and commercial electrical installation and maintenance works, control and instrumentation, electric motor repair, overhaul and rewinding for clients including schools, offices, commercial premises, distilleries and fish processing plants.
During a visit to NES last year, Mr Hendry said it is a great success story, adding: “The fact that growth has been driven by a desire to create opportunities for young people and on staff development makes the achieved and planned progress even more commendable.”
NES has recently been working on a major contract for Norbord, Inverness. It is also engaged in projects at Cauldeen School in Inverness; the new £100 million Macallan distillery in Moray and at SGL Carbon Fibers Ltd in Ross-shire
NES’s commitment to safety and developing new staff has seen it win prestigious awards in successive years from SELECT, the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland, which represents more than 1,250 companies, 15,000 electricians and 3,500 apprentices.
NES picked up the award for Best Electrical Safety Project in 2016, having won the Best Use of Training category in 2015.