Lee Beesley Deritend
'In the winter of 1923 young electrical engineer Mr Harold F. Ward laid the foundations for what was to become Deritend Birmingham. He started a small electrical installation and contracting business in the Birmingham suburb of Shirley. The business grew steadily and continued to flourish during the war years. By 1946 it was in strong position to expand. In the early 1950s a rewind facility was set up on the site of Deritend Birmingham's current premises in Highgate Road, Birmingham. This was just in time to take advantage of the switchof the electricity supply from two phase to three phase throughout the Black Country, a situation the company exploited to the full. Harold Ward continued to run the business until the mid-1970s when retirement beckoned. H. F. Ward was sold to the Deritend Stampings Group from which it gained its present name. Deritend already owned another local company E. J. Wilcox which carried out similar work as well as a number of companies throughout the country working in the same sectors. From this the Deritend repair group was formed. New ownership in 1989 saw the opportunity and synergy between the factory based services provided by Deritend and the electrical contracting business provided by their Lee Beesley subsidiary so Lee Beesley Deritend was formed. Lee Beesley Deritend operates from 20 business units throughout the UK. Employing in excess of 700 people and with turnover of some £35 million the group continues to expand develop its core business activities...'[1]
1988/9 Deritend Electrical Services was acquired by Triplex Group and merged with Lee Beesley to form Lee Beesley Deritend plc.
1991 Acquired by the GTIE Group; worked on several joint venture projects with its new French colleagues, including the construction of the Channel Tunnel
2001 Richard Hale headed a management buyout of Deritend and established The Deritend Group.
2001 The remainder of the group was renamed Lee Beesley plc
2002 Renamed GTIE United Kingdom plc
2011 Lee Beesley joined the International Network of Industrial experts of VINCI Energies; rebranded as Actemium.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Birmingham Daily Post - Friday 14 February 1997