How 7formation is delivering excellence and expanding its reach due to exponential growth
As one of the UK’s leading fit-out contractors, 7formation specialises in both internal and external build solutions, delivering a tailored, one-stop solution for customers. Founded in 2008, the business has earned a strong reputation across the industry for its dedication to quality and a friendly, customer-centric approach to working relationships.
“7formation was established by seven founders with experience in different elements of the fit-out industry,” begins Sales Director, Jon Myers. “The founders bring an array of industry expertise, seamlessly combining commercial skills with project management, sales, and warehousing experience. After a few steady years, the leaders managed to kickstart growth by working with retailers, hotel chains, and plenty of building merchants.
“We continued to grow organically up until Covid-19 occurred, and then like many companies, business slowed down. However, in the post-pandemic era, the group managed to really make things sing, and the business grew exponentially as it recovered from the pandemic. To put it into perspective, the company’s turnover was £5 million in 2017, £25 million in 2021, and we’re on track to reach £50 million this year.”
Project portfolio
Such impressive growth has seen the business outgrow its offices, resulting in a move in 2023. “The company has always been rooted in Corby, England, but having outgrown our last office, we moved to a slightly bigger site and celebrated our one-year anniversary of being operational in April,” Jon explains. “After leasing offices, we wanted our own space to take control of and one that reflects the general happy feeling of the teams across 7formation.
“Although fit-out projects are where we started, our portfolio of services has evolved to include several different areas of construction. Many people still view us as a fit-out company, but we now do roof work, facades, extensions, gabion walls, and we even recently built a new Co-Op supermarket entirely from the ground up.
“The backbone of the business is all kinds of retail outlets, with many of our customers being retail chains, such as DFS, Frasers Group, Next, and Adidas,” he says. “We’ve always worked on hotels too, and we’re starting to complete office or warehousing projects, as well as some residential work for landlords.
“However, we’re currently focusing our efforts on strengthening our presence in the public sector. We’ve completed projects in schools for local councils, for instance, and the Coast Guard has been a particularly great customer for us in recent years. We must maintain a healthy balance of projects to ensure the stability of the business, especially with retail being dependent on the state of the economy; when the economy is struggling, consumers don’t spend as much money, and retailers are therefore more cautious to invest in infrastructure.”
On more of a personal note, Jon reflects: “I joined in 2022 to replace one of the founders upon his retirement. I came in from a completely non construction background; I was previously a founding member and director of a software company. As most of the company’s customer base was doctors’ surgeries, the business struggled when the pandemic hit, and it never really recovered.
“I decided to move on, and I was introduced to our current Managing Director, Jak Garner. I was enthused by 7formation’s ethos. I instantly recognised that the company’s culture was fostered by the large amount of very talented, enthusiastic people. So, I came onboard and spent six months working alongside my predecessor, which was invaluable in teaching me about the role and the wider market.”
Sustainable solutions
As talk turns to the construction sector at large, Jon uses insights from a recent roundtable he attended ahead of the UK’s general election [at time of writing]. “Both Jak and I are interested in the wider market,” he states. “One of the industry’s biggest issues is around planning, with a recent study showing the amount of time taken between planning and starting on site has increased by 50 per cent since 2019.
“At 7formation, we embrace American football coach, Vince Lombardi’s statement that ‘we never lose, we just run out of time’; we rarely lose a job or a client, but we’re often forced to push things back due to delays at the planning stages.
“We’re increasingly seeing projects come through with sustainability-driven goals, as well as being asked by customers to provide suggestions to improve the sustainability ratings of their projects. Recent studies show that 50 per cent of people would rather go for a ‘green’ solution even if it’s more expensive, but we’re not yet seeing that statistic reflected in customer requests.
“We’re in the process of becoming ISO14001 certified, which will be a framework for us to enhance our operational sustainability. We’ve also established an ESG committee to implement strategies and initiatives across the company to reduce energy usage in our own offices.”
Growth trajectory
On the topic of ESG, Jon continues: “We’re passionate about charitable giving across the company. We’ve always had a nominated charity each year, but we’ve gone one step further and started the 7Foundation, our own charitable organisation that supports three charities: Northamptonshire Hope, a charity fighting homelessness; Animals in Need Northamptonshire; and The Marfan Trust, which supports people with Marfan syndrome across the UK.”
7formation’s dedication to ESG is inspiring, and as the company grows, the community in which it operates can rest assured that its local engagement will also prosper. “In terms of numbers, we have an ambitious goal to reach £100 million turnover, and, of course, strengthen the company’s infrastructure to cope with such growth,” Jon suggests when asked about the future.
“I’d like to see a variety of customer types on our books to reduce our reliance on the retail sector. There’s also potential to bring on other small tangential businesses, like the health and safety consultancy we currently own. We’re supporting those entities while trying to grow the overall business at the same time.
“We’ve got the right basis of talented people who share our values and enthusiasm for taking the business forward,” he concludes. “For me, it’s all about the people, so above all, I want to see our teams flourish and grow into new positions as the company grows.”