FuturePrint Podcast
FuturePrint is dedicated to and passionate about the power of print technology to enable new opportunities and create new value. This pod features deep-dive discussions with the people behind the tech as well as market analysis, trends, marketing and storytelling!
FuturePrint Podcast
#254 Recreating the Urban Canvas: How Embrace Building Wraps Turn Construction Sites into Storytelling Platforms
The urban landscape is constantly evolving, with construction sites and building renovations an unavoidable part of city life. But what if these necessary disruptions could be transformed into stunning visual displays that enhance rather than detract from our shared spaces?
Greg Forster, founder of Embrace Building Wraps, joins the FuturePrint podcast to reveal how his company is revolutionizing the construction industry through creative, sustainable building wraps. From wrapping Oxford Street in a giant IKEA bag to creating illuminated architectural displays for luxury London developments, Greg shares the fascinating stories behind some of the UK's most iconic temporary installations.
Drawing on his background in outdoor advertising with companies like Diageo, Unilever, and Clear Channel, Greg explains how a chance conversation outside a pub led to the founding of Embrace Building Wraps in 2013. With a simple concept—conceal, disguise, or advertise—the company has grown to become an award-winning leader in sustainable large-format printing and installation.
The conversation delves into the extraordinary complexity of managing these projects, which Greg describes as "herding cats on a seesaw" with numerous stakeholders including clients, contractors, engineers, and installation teams. Learn about the meticulous planning, engineering calculations, and safety considerations required to transform scaffolding into enormous art installations that can withstand British weather for months on end.
At the heart of Embrace's success lies a genuine commitment to sustainability. Greg shares their pioneering work with PVC-free materials, their "Banner Karma" initiative that repurposes used materials, and their partnership with Ecologi that has led to the planting of over 17,000 trees globally. Their philosophy that "there should never be a conflict between supporting the future of our planet and turning a profit" offers valuable lessons for businesses in any sector.
Whether you're fascinated by urban design, construction, sustainability, or entrepreneurship, this conversation offers a unique glimpse into an industry that transforms the visual experience of our cities while pushing the boundaries of what's possible in large-format printing and installation.
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FuturePrint TECH: Industrial Print: 21-22 January '26, Munich, Germany
Welcome to the FuturePrint podcast celebrating print technology and the people behind it.
Speaker 2:And welcome to the FuturePrint podcast and Marcus Jemson here. I'm delighted to have with me an award winner another award winner from the Cavillan Green Leaders Award Joining me today. We have Greg Forster from Embrace Building Wraps. So welcome to the podcast, greg.
Speaker 3:Marcus, great to be here.
Speaker 2:Fantastic and your business title is so brilliantly descriptive. But I'm not going to tell anybody what you do, but that is an excellent business name really, and I know you do some. That is an excellent business name really, and I know you do some hugely innovative work and we're going to explore that because if you win awards, one would tend to think you're a leader in some way, shape or form, and certainly haven't seen your work and some of the applications and installations. I can vouch for that it's amazing stuff. So I appreciate you joining us today, greg. First off, though, I'd really like to kind of get a little bit of background from yourself, greg. Could you perhaps start by telling us how you perhaps got first got into the world of media and outdoor advertising? Always nice to hear the backstory no problem, I suppose.
Speaker 3:After several years working in the wholesale FMCG field sales arena working for Diageo and then Unilever I managed to stumble across commission-only sales role in the business-to-business publisher which ended up me managing a team of 50 unruly commission-only sales people. And whilst it was great fun and actually very rewarding, you can only do that for a number of years it's quite intense. So I then had my first break into out of home media, managing a team selling airport advertising at jc leco airport. Now this was back in the day when, before I only went digital, we were selling huge wraps 3d specials. Before everything went digital, we were selling huge wraps 3D specials dealing with big brands with massive budgets all falling over themselves trying to get the best displays and this is boom time, so there was plenty of sort of dot-com money washing around Then moved across to large format roadside billboards to become sales director at Score Outdoor and then that business was acquired by Clear Channel and I went along for the ride, had a number of internal promotions and ended up as a board director, clear channel and the MD at taxi media and that was a good old days, with lots of super-sized and full deliveries on an enormous fleet of taxis.
Speaker 3:And then an opportunity came along to be the sales director the new startup startup called Outdoor Plus, and that was a supersized mega portrait, mega 48s and mega 96 sheets. And I did that for a couple of years and the company entered into a sales agreement with JC Deco and my role was made redundant. So I took my money and ran and started my own media sales consultancy in 2006. And that really morphed into Embrace Building Maps in 2013. So in essence, I suppose large format and high impact projects are in my blood.
Speaker 2:Yeah, brilliant, and something that obviously excites you, motivates you, it's creative, it's a mixture of project management and it's nice having a look at some of the work. It looks technically challenging as well, so I guess there's a whole bunch of skills you're applying which we'll find out more about. So you set up your your own business. The moment of insight was it that moment where you sort of thought oh, now I, what am I going to do now? Make something up, or do you already have thoughts and ideas anyway? How did it begin?
Speaker 3:Well, in all fairness, I've been selling giant billboards and giant wraps to the advertising sector for many years and I just went from selling from one group of people to another. I was actually standing outside a pub on a sunny afternoon with a client who actually is now our operations director, Gary Newton, and we were looking at a very old, tatty building site with scaffold and a painted ply hoarding and that was the kind of light bulb moment saying, well, why not offer this service to developers and contractors for their own scaffold and the hoarding as a marketing tool? So it's a simple concept. It's either concealed disguise or advertise boarding as a marketing tool. So it's a simple concept. It's either concealed disguise or advertise. So we had all the right contacts in terms of print manufacture, installation. It was just a case of moving my focus to a less cluttered marketplace and not have to deal with the wonderful world of advertising agencies all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. So often great ideas are hatched inside pubs, but yours was just outside, so that's fortuitous, perhaps.
Speaker 3:You're in the sunshine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're in the sunshine, Absolutely so. Obviously, when you set the business up, it's exciting and challenging and all of that. So, looking back to 2013, when you started the wrapping side of the business, early wins and lessons anything you might want to share from that you know the construction market has changed considerably.
Speaker 3:Um, you know the sector we now operate is all about compliance. You know, accreditation and health and safety. When I started embrace, all I had was an a4 double-sided flyer and I walked up and down the west end of the city knocking on the site office doors. We did manage to secure a few small jobs here and there, but the bigger jobs did take about six months to start rolling in to secure a PO and then crack on. Because there are so many stakeholders it can take an age to get something over the line and construction sites changing all the time during the build. So you've got to manage the chain very carefully. Even now we're actually working a project that started about three years ago to get on site.
Speaker 2:So things do take time yeah, but I guess the results are far better when you really thought through the whole process the creativity side of things, the aesthetics and and also the technical side. I know you're famous for, or Embrace is famous for, perhaps taking some of the more complex and impactful projects available. What exactly makes it exciting for you? Because I sense from you that you really are you get really quite excited about the projects themselves. Yeah, explain a bit about that.
Speaker 3:Having a passion is really important and you know we do love a challenge. It's all about location, the line of sight, deadlines, operational constraints on site and you know a key one is the creative design that's being issued to us or we deliver for the client. It's that feeling when the installation is complete and you stand there beside the clients and everyone goes, wow, that's key for us. So probably we get issued with an A4 planning application document, architects' drawings, scuff drawings or, in some cases, the back of a FAG packet. That still happens. They say can you deliver this? Regardless of the complexity? We always make it happen and I'm very lucky to have gary newton as our operations director, because he is barred by the best in the business and so he takes these documents away and make the magic happens. Sometimes he does shake his head when I over promise and he has to deliver it, but um, that's the nature of the business, to be fair yeah, it sounds like you've got a really good yin and yang there.
Speaker 2:So you're the more the sort of client facing side of things you're, you're the ones that can your person perhaps can see it working, and he's the one that integrates and actually makes it happen. So it sounds like a yes yeah, really.
Speaker 2:So obviously we've seen the work and most people have seen building wraps, and some better than others and so on, but, um, with a business like that, then explain a bit about your core services and perhaps the structure of the business. You've mentioned your operations director there go, but, um, yeah, give us a bit of a insight as to how the business works okay, well, I suppose not trying to make this sound like a sales pitch we do things very differently to others.
Speaker 3:We offer a full, 360 degree project management service. So the clients have got one point of contact for the entire project. So it's really a case of being there from the conception of an idea to the delivery and then, obviously, at the end, the removal of the project. So we offer creative design, compile, submit planning applications to display advertising, coordinate the project with the on-site main contractor, surveys, engineers, calculations, rams, artwork, approvals, print, installation maintenance, removal and the repurpose and waste to energy disposal at the end of the campaign. So you know in terms of what we do offer in terms of products, we wrap scaffolds, buildings, steel facade retention systems, modular cabins, grandstands, contravision, solid vinyl on glazing, dress, site hoardings with ACP mesh wraps on vents panels. We even wrap 5G antennas with crumpled designs so they don't stick out like sawtums on buildings, so that keeps planners happy.
Speaker 2:And it's lots of moving parts, lots of different people to liaise with, but I guess there's planning applications, there's lots of paperwork potentially as well. I think when we had a brief chat earlier you mentioned you're a little like a cat herder. Um, tell us more about that project management complexity, because it's no mean feat, is it? I mean, the printing side of it obviously is fantastic, visually captivating, the materials really important.
Speaker 3:But the whole thing is a bit more complex, isn't it, than print in a pop display in a shop so I suppose the best way to describe it is if you're looking at a seesaw with embrace in the middle, and on two sides of the seesaw you've got a load of cats.
Speaker 3:So on one side you have the client, the client's cost agent, creative agency, pr department, accountancy team, then you've got the main contractor who just wants to get on with the build, and the dressing of the site is just one more item for him to manage outside of the build. So we have to deal with project directors, project managers, quantity surveyors, temporary works engineers, health and safety managers and on-site security plus. We then have to deal with scaffolders and hoarding tractors, and then, on the other other side of the sort of seahole, we have our engineers, our install team, our printers and transportation team. So, as you can imagine, this is a really long chain and nothing goes to planning construction, and so it's really a moving feast keeping all these cats happy and on the seesaw so effectively. It's a regular communication and a lot of patients win today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I guess experience as well helps in that process. It tends to give you the confidence that you're moving in the right direction, even if sometimes it's mired with various things that get in the way. I'm sure It'd be good to talk about some of your signature projects, because you've won awards, like I've said. So the Cavalent Green Leader Awards, green leader awards, I think rewards. I think more than one of those awards and one of them. Now I'd like to mention um, the oxford street in london. Obviously. It's possibly the most famous area for shopping in the whole of the country. It's an iconic place, an iconic location, and Ikea installed a fantastically creative, impactful um wrap. Didn't they tell us a bit about that? And um, from brief to installation and the point of it, and can't miss it. So tell us a bit more sure it's.
Speaker 3:Oxford Street, as you say, is a very key area for people to go shopping in and you know IKEA are, you know, sort of a key client to have people to draw to the area. I suppose back at the beginning we were handed a scaled A3 planning application document to display advertising that showed the elevations of Regent Street, oxford Circus and Oxford Street. And we were also asked to ensure we had sustainability at the heart of it. And you know, on closer inspection, we were looking at a two and a half thousand square meter printed wrap. So you're looking at the equivalent of 44 double decker buses, so that's huge. And then we had to replicate the famous Ikea Fracta bag.
Speaker 2:You know the blue ones you see everywhere yeah, yeah, I carried a few of those around, unfortunately.
Speaker 3:And everyone's lofts as well, and that measured about 650 odd meters square with two 3D handles. One was 16 meters long and one was 32 meters long and they were 1.8 meters wide. So I suppose with the world's biggest scuffle wrap we did a few years before eight and a half thousand square meters with 24 frames and 24 wraps. So I suppose with the world's biggest scaffold wrap we did a few years before, 8,500 square metres with 24 frames and 24 wraps, then the whole install, we could manage this project no problem. So I suppose in detail, we had six fully engineered offset frames to carry all this. We had 1,000 linear metres of scaffold tube. The offset frames, the uprights and the six wraps alone made the same as a mini car.
Speaker 3:The really tricky element here was to make a fully engineered handle look and behave like handles at scale, and that's no mean feat and that took a lot of time. We did scale mock-ups. I started off with slips of paper in my office. We then moved up to larger scale, pvc-free coverland, sunlight, vulnerable. In the factory we had to make sure the templates worked out correctly so they actually fell correctly. It wasn't just a case of getting too long strips, like you find in a bag, because that didn't work, because it had to hang properly so you could see the logos on both sides up and down the street. We then had to ensure that the fixings were hidden. So we ensured we had blue coated wires and we wrapped any protruding scaffold tubes in blue vinyl to mask all that.
Speaker 3:So a lot of R&D pull tests on the handles to ensure they would last the duration of display. In fact it was supposed to be up for about five months and it ended up being up for eight months. So we did all sorts of print tests at 100% scales. We did a load of 5.5 metre print tests to ensure that the actual printed wrap would look like a Fracta bag. And also in terms of sustainability. Not only do we use Catalan PVC free, but we also funded the planting of 2,400 new trees in our global forest to match the areas of banners with our partners ecology. And at the end of the display it was taken off the scaffold and went straight into the waste to energy program with certification from festival. So it's a good job. Look the business and um. They've got a huge amount of positive pr online for ikea and for us as well yeah, huge amount of social media.
Speaker 2:Wasn't there as well? Around I saw it, um, it would stand out really impressive. Also, I I I guess let's be honest the uk isn't known for its clement weather as well, is it? I mean, there's that must be a fact a huge factor in being able to, with those handles and wind and rain and all of that, and then sunshine as well, to be up for eight months is pretty outstanding, I'd say.
Speaker 3:No mean feat.
Speaker 2:No, fantastic. Another one of your awards and again this was, I thought was pretty breathtaking and fantastic was the Sandhurst project. What made that so unique? Explain a bit about what Sandhurst is, because we have listeners from all over the world. Not everybody will understand, but what made that so unique? Give us a bit of background about that.
Speaker 3:Sandhurst is an old army barracks and that's been sort of sold off and it's now been turned into a load of housing development and the main part of the development is an old barracks themselves. So it's a huge sort of barracks, a big development, and the main part of the development is an old barracks themselves. So it's a huge sort of barracks, a big parade in the front of it. Um, our job to us was to actually mask that while the works were being done around it. The only thing here was the creative design was excellent. It was a riot of color, a real feast for the eyes. And again, sustainability was a part of the project, so we used cabland again.
Speaker 3:Um, the files that the artist provided us with were superb and that allowed us to clearly demonstrate on how our wide format print machines can perform and the colors really popped out. In terms of the barracks, you've got two huge side wings, so we wrapped those with wire frames and put the wraps into those, and in the center was a network of cader rail vertical wraps and in all the window voids in the center we actually filled those with acp boards and you know, it's the most colorful installation we've done thus far. It's amazing yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's like you say, in keyword there's creativity, isn't it? When, when the designer the point of design understands, I what can be done with both digital printing and the right materials and the right business embrace, then it's not limitless creativity, but it just looks like it made the building look probably the best it's ever and ever will look in many ways Really outstanding, and it won the award, rightly so, I think. Yeah, yeah, well done anyway. So you've mentioned a few times sustainability. Obviously the green leaders was all about that. Um. Before we get sustainability, though, any other project that you're especially proud of, um, because you wrapped anything, everything from the ritz hotel to 5g mass.
Speaker 3:Just before we get to sustainability, any other projects you might want to kind of highlight please, you're asking me for one project, but that's a bit like asking me to name a favorite child yeah, so many yeah yeah, but the first one we delivered was the world's biggest, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:One of them is the world's biggest scaffold ramp, which was 8,500 square meters for Selfridges up in Birmingham on the ball ring and that design was a striking multicolored sort of dog tooth design and despite having 24 individual frames and the ramps, we had to make them look like one installation. The scale was phenomenal and went around all three elevations. So I suppose in terms of scale, if you lined up three and a half seven, four, seven jets and that's almost as high as Big Ben, that's the scale of the project we managed to deliver. But I suppose you know the pinnacle would be a project we're working on right now which is live in London, the Mayfair.
Speaker 3:It's a stunning scaffold rep installation which features a high digitally printed design, 3d logos and illuminated moulded cornices. So it's a great big, giant scaffold structure featuring two layer access staircases. You've got a three-story site office and well-fired cabins on giant steel beams. It goes across three elevations, so the wrap itself is a parchment design with a Vulturian man along with the text from the client's design ethos. So each elevation features a two-and-a-half-square-metre 3D back illuminated logo against the scaffold wrap. And then you've got the molded 3d cornices with integrated lighting that run along the top and the bottom of the wrap. That really does make it look so sophisticated and you know the challenges of the three elevations gives us 10 returns on the wraps and cornices.
Speaker 3:So you know you've got six individual separate wraps. That needs to look like they appear to be one seamless project and they're all sort of 16 meters high and that's got a combined length of around 130 meters or so. At night it kind of changes the whole environment. The wraps and the 3D logos are all illuminated with a nice dimmable, warm golden wash powered by low energy lights. And then I suppose you go and lower down beneath the wrap you've got a scaffold and tower supports that are clad in sort of six meter high painted plywooding. We've actually dressed that in a matching parchment design and printed aluminium composite boards so it gives a nice seamless connecting upper and lower sections for the installation. It's not on our website as yet, but it's located on Burlington Gardens off Regan Street brilliant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's like artwork, isn't it sort of just sort of huge, huge installations of artwork that really complement and enhance the environment, which is um, which is nice, rather than an in-your-face kind of advertising. It's very sympathetic, isn't it?
Speaker 3:And when you stand there in front of the actual project itself, you can listen to people pointing up and making some really positive comments about it. So it's great when you're standing there with the client and they see and hear that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, fantastic. And obviously, sustainability is a big deal for you guys, which is why you award winners in that field for you guys, and um, which is why you award um winners in that field. Um, cavalan and is is obviously a leader in non-pvc and sustainable materials, so you were the first, I think in the uk, to to use cavalan sunlight. What drove that decision?
Speaker 3:well, I suppose every business should do what they can to reduce its overall environmental impact when you're doing business. We have been, on an ongoing basis, looking at ways of doing this, so it's not only good for the planet, it's good for business practice and our clients buy into what we're doing by moving away from PPC where we can and back in 2020,. We first started looking at this with a number of products from Kaplan and they ticked the right boxes and, after a lot of time and testing, we felt comfortable offering a product that was fit for purpose in terms of structural integrity and fire ratings. We started off with a number of smaller projects, but they got progressively bigger, as per IKEAkea on oxford street yeah, yeah, and it's um pays dividends to be a pioneer, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:because you're kind of in the front in the front and you get an advantage, and then you can point to lots of sort of projects that have been hugely successful um you do buy your mistakes, so you've got to do a lot of testing yeah, yeah, yeah. So you kind of get that, but you have to invest and take that kind of risk. I guess Sustainability you kind of hinted at it already, but with your business model, how have clients responded? Is that a growing factor that clients ask for? How are they responding to it?
Speaker 3:I love it. We are committed to our sustainability environmental policy and we kind of feel that, um, it's a collective responsibility of our staff you know, supply chain and our clients to work as one so together we can all put together sustainability in the heart of each project we manage, um which we hope will leave a nice long lasting positive legacy. So to this end we actually have got four key initiatives and our clients love them and it helps build business. So the first one we came up with was called banner karma. So when we finished with the solid and flexible substrates, um, all the component materials are actually repurposed where we can with offering them to local farmers. So they get reused in agricultural settings to cover animal feed, machinery, leaking roofs or pond liners. And then we look at doing things like upcycling.
Speaker 3:We've been working with a company down in Bristol. They're an artisan bag maker and they repurpose quality textiles and fabrics. So they kind of use and repurpose some of our more colorful pvc wraps into bags and all shapes and sizes. And I've stumbled across a local landscape engineer and he could use the mesh pvc as a geotextile membrane. So rather than using a kind of a protective membrane called a taram, um, you can actually use this between individual building materials when you're sort of putting down hardcore, and so, rather than going out and buying new rolls of membranes, um, they kind of pick up our spent banners and use them as the sort of membranes yeah, yeah, it's also.
Speaker 2:It's also the waste of energy too yeah, and I guess it's kind of exploring those possibilities that add up to the story, don't they? And actually it's not only that. It's kind of a feel-good thing, isn't it? To collaborate with other business engineers, it's a positive thing. Yeah, absolutely. And your tree planting partnership with the college, that's another positive, and so that's something that you've hinted at already. But you do reinvest a lot of the sustainability credentials, partly by that as well, right?
Speaker 3:Correct. Yeah, so we've been a client that's positive work for since December 2020 and we've funded the planting of over 17,000 new trees in what we call our global forest. So there are 19 projects we support here in the UK and across the globe. As a given, we always fund 4,000 new trees a year, and this number is split across monthly investments.
Speaker 3:And each flexible substrate project we install, we make an additional climate positive investment on behalf of our clients. We then issue them with a certificate. This is for offsetting carbon emissions. So we also actually invested, I think, around 51 projects across the globe to help avoid CO2 emissions, such as things like clean energy through hydropower in Uganda, geothermal power in West Java, even converting landfill gas into energy in northern Turkey. So we recognise that climate change is a critical global issue and which has a significant impact for all of us. So, really seriously, there should never be a conflict between supporting the future of our planet and turning a profit, and I'm really proud we're playing a role in that transition to a more sustainable, environmentally improved future through our policies and procedures and our commitments here at Embrace.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's great to hear, because often that is the trade-off or that is the problem. People find a barrier and perhaps they don't try to push through that barrier, but that there often is that sense of trade-off between the cost of something and it being environmentally positive. And what you're saying is, if you, if you're creative and if you're committed, you can work. And is that sense of trade-off between the cost of something and it being environmentally positive, and what you're saying is, if you're creative and if you're committed.
Speaker 3:You can work through that and win. Which is it?
Speaker 2:should be possible, and that's great to hear. We've got to win some big projects, which is great, absolutely. So I'm kind of gathering from the conversation what's the secret behind your strong relationships with the clients. Is it because you make their lives easier, you make them look good, you kind of tick all the boxes? What is it?
Speaker 3:What's your secret then?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure that'll be telling yeah, not particularly.
Speaker 3:I think in reality it's the consistency in the project delivery On time and on budget is key. Effective communications all the time. Um you know we pride ourselves on some particularly stellar levels of account management. Um working on site to steady pace that never puts health and safety at risk to anyone. Um you know, we always find a solution to whatever's presented to us and um we tend to go the extra mile and more. That's what clients value absolutely.
Speaker 2:Um, you strike me as somebody that likes the. It sounds like it's a. It could be quite high pressured, right and quite. There's lots of moving parts, there's lots of challenges, there's lots of you've heard in cat sort of stuff. Um, you know and I think the chat before you said, oh, you know, I've got a short attention span is that is that sort of you like, that dynamism, being in that kind of like melee of different problems all over the place. Is that you know how? How do you deal with that? And and perhaps, how does variety and creativity play into your motivation as a business leader?
Speaker 3:you know, we work on a variety of projects and we wrap all sorts of structures and all these are running at all the same time. So you kind of need to be fairly organized with a mindset to be able to jump back and forth from one project to the next. I suppose it is an ongoing challenge and it's in your DNA and you should look at my actual task list. Normally it runs into two pages. So you need to be able to sort of bounce backwards and forwards and sort of you know, coordinate and be organized yeah, yeah, definitely collaboration.
Speaker 2:It's another thing that I can hear from the, from what you're saying yeah, how important is that in terms of delivering projects, especially with your partners and your subcontractors? That must be key right. It's not a top-down kind of direction, it's a kind of cumulative kind of collaborative.
Speaker 3:We're all this together. We're all this together. You know we give our collaborators, as I call them, a very clear brief on each project. We give them, um, you know, gary ox, director, is a real master at this and we're blessed to be actually working with the same subbies and printers for a very long time. So even my back, my old days working in outdoor media, working with the same people. So at the end of the day, all parties must be doing something right to have this ongoing relationship. You know, two decades or so, um, and you know we know we tend to secure the more challenging projects. So they expect it's not the usual run-of-the-mill stuff they have day in, day out when it comes to embrace work and also settling their invoices on time does help, so they like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, paying people on time is a great way to cement a relationship. I completely agree. When we talked, and even now you have mentioned print a little bit. But it's interesting because obviously you're outdoor advertising from the advertising world. A key part of it is print, but you don't mention it too much in it. How do you see the role of print providers in your overall value proposition? Is it part of it or is it the main part?
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, without print we wouldn't have a business. So it's key you know managing that relationship. Now. We draw on a number of print partners to keep up with the demand and they know that we have a very high standard. We work in a visual solutions world and we can't afford anything to leave the facility that not on point, and nor can they, because imagine removing something, reprinting it and reinstalling it to scale would be a very expensive process and you know we've got reputation to think of. So touch wood, so far we've been all right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, fantastic. You kind of mentioned a little bit. Like I said, I'm quite intrigued by just the scale and the complexity and the frankly, frankly difficulty of some of the work you do. How is it you ensure the sort of visual structural quality across such large scale and technically demanding installations? Then how do you ensure that? Is it your experience? Do you have to have qualifications? How do you deal with it?
Speaker 3:we're very firm on this. Quality of the print files that are supplied to us by the client have to be bang on to the right resolution. So we issue everybody with a detailed production guideline document that ensures that our machines can deliver the best quality display. As for the building and scaffold wraps we install, we have structurally approved calculations from. We install. We have structurally approved calculations from qualified engineers. We go belt and braces, ensuring that they are fit for purpose and invariably the project is installed. The engineer will come out in the 10 site and issue an inspection certificate to make sure what he has designed has been installed. And even for a short-term project, we always assume it's maybe up for longer. Um, invariably they do stay up for longer and this construction and builds do drag on. And to add to this, with the Met Office named Storms on the increase now our storm season you have to ensure it has to be right, and it even costs us more money to do that. But at the end of the day, safety, quality and reputation is paramount to us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no mean fee, and so looking ahead, so, um any projects or technologies or sustainability initiatives you you're excited to share that you'll be exploring perhaps in the next 6 to 12 months yeah, um, we've always got lots of new potential projects bubbling behind.
Speaker 3:Um, we spend a lot of time sending out all sorts of proposals from incoming leads from the website, or referrals or repeat business from people, and I suppose in any business it's a numbers game and the quality of leads. None of that is to us, and we are under a lot of NDA, so some projects we can't talk about or share too much. However, we are spending a lot of time up at Silverstone at the moment in advance of the British Grand Prix, so expect some big stuff on our socials near the time I was there yesterday. So, yep, it's going to be really good up there. In terms of technologies, well, we're looking at computer software and AI, how that can enhance our creative solutions offering. It's a bit of a dark art, so I'm trying to get my head around that one. Um, just come back from the states looking at how they do things over there.
Speaker 2:Um what would you say? How does it compare the us market with what you're doing, what we're doing here? Is it different or not, as creative or more creative?
Speaker 3:similar. You know they've got a lot of digital stuff out there, but some of the older stuff is still there. They've got different sort of temperatures to consider compared to ours, but you know our summers are getting hotter so everything has to be pretty robust. But I suppose at the end of the day, you know we're working only 24 hours in a day, so there's only so much you can do. And you know know we do have a um robust and working, sustainability and environmental policy.
Speaker 2:When it comes to that cool, and what would you say then is next for you? For for embrace, you've done fantastically well. Um, congratulations, by the way. Any expansion, innovation or creative goals on the horizon, or much of the same, much the same.
Speaker 3:We're in a pretty good place at the moment, um, as we continue to increase our revenue and improve our profitability year on year. So we need to look at changing our business model too much, always looking at new products to help us move away from PPC. We've got one on the horizon that's quite interesting. That's in its very early stages, so not in a position to discuss that, but so far far it's looking good. But, um, you know, when we started using cabland a long time ago, it just did take us 18 months to get it right. So you know, these things do take time yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2:Great success with the business. Just sort of like now moving on to sort of just your sort of, perhaps any tips or thoughts that you might suggest to use were useful, or learnings. Um, first off, though, what keeps you motivated? So, after a decade in the business, sometimes people in certain roles perhaps get a little bit tired or a little bit kind of like, uh, if it gets a bit samey, what keeps you motivated after more than a decade, then?
Speaker 3:I suppose it's the variety of projects and the products we offer and we work on um team pride. So when the project is handled and handed over, installed, that's important. Everyone sort of gets a good sense of feeling there. Um, I'd call it creeping excellence as well. Um, the more projects we deliver, the more we learn and the more efficient we become as a business. I suppose winning the odd award here and there is nice, and I suppose the money helps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, of course, and it's the money as a result of the value that you're delivering for your clients. So that's all part of the journey, as it were. So, as a business leader, as an entrepreneur, as um, just perhaps any sort of advice that you might share with somebody, even if they're not thinking of the kind of work you're doing, but in a related field, and that if you have one piece of advice for someone looking to start out, what, what would it? What might it be? Sorry, no, I'm joking.
Speaker 3:Don't Okay.
Speaker 2:Fair enough.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of work and time that needs to be invested in certification and accreditation to get you even at the possibility of becoming a T1 main contractor, sub-approved subcontractor. You'll need to be able to demonstrate you have the skill sets and experience in place to run the project of scale that we deal with. So it's a bit of a chicken and egg, to be fair. We're in a fairly fortunate position. Since we entered the market such a long time ago, we've got the majority of that behind us already. So you're going to need some pretty deep pockets for cash flow, as it all takes time. And when you do get there, yeah, for costs. Submitting applications and invoicing and awaiting a payment does take time.
Speaker 3:Um, understandably, be prepared to invest in a lot of time regarding health and safety. You put out the public to others on site and your own people, um, and despite having done this for 13 years now, our comprehensive free start checklist is about 30 odd questions and we've got a 10 page proposal document to ensure that all eventual penalties are covered off. But at the end of the day, something new always crops up. So every day is a school day, but I suppose, finally, mother Nature can be a very cruel mistress. The projects that we deliver on are like giant sails, so always I've got one eye on the window of safe working windows. So despite all the planning in the world and everything's all lined up to go, the weather can change. We have to abort at our costs and we plan as safety can't be compromised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So it's a lot of work and a lot of learning and a lot of um planning, which is critical, of course. Yeah, like you say, health and safety and then the um and then the uh success of the install, which is pretty fundamental. Well, listen, um, thank you for joining us. Really interesting listening to you. I don't think we've had anybody like you on our podcast before. That does what you do and it's really inspiring. What we're going to do is create an article as well, and perhaps we can share some of the photos and images in the article for people then to refer to, to see, because it's nice, because it is so visual. So, um, you did really well, by the way, for explaining things, but I think also having a having a look is good too, and seeing the incredible work. So, congratulations again on the award winning and thank you again for joining us, greg, and best of luck for the future.
Speaker 3:Thank you Marcus.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can subscribe now for more great audio content. Coming up and visit futureprinttech for the latest news, partner interviews, in-depth industry research and to catch up on content from Futureprint events. We'll see you next time on the Futureprint Podcast.
