“Affinity” For Success

Brothers buy £1-million new HQ to enable next phase of Caltech Lifts’ £6-million growth plan.

Submitted by Caltech Lifts; photos courtesy of Caltech Lifts

Andrew and Fraser Renwick, the brothers who run Caltech Lifts, have unlocked the next phase of their plan to grow to £6 million turnover and improve customer service by buying a new headquarters (HQ) building with warehouses and rental offices in Dundee, Scotland, for £1 million. The family firm, established in 1978 by Howard Renwick and run since 2013 by two of his sons, Andrew and Fraser Renwick (managing director and director, respectively), is one of Scotland’s leading suppliers and maintainers of lifting equipment, including passenger lifts, goods lifts, disabled access lifts and stairlifts to the public and private sectors. The company maintains more than 1,500 lifts across the U.K. and has 30 employees.

Caltech Lifts’ planned growth to £6 million turnover had long been constrained by the size of its HQ at the Port of Dundee, necessitating the use of shipping containers in its car park to store equipment and parts, as well as administrative staff working across more than one office on-site and remotely.

Affinity House

Now, the ambition to unlock the next stage of the Renwick brothers’ growth plan has been met through the purchase of Affinity House in the city’s Dryburgh Industrial Estate from Affinity Business Centre Ltd. by Calsum Property Ltd., a commercial property firm set up by Andrew and Fraser with two close business associates. The deal was financed with a commercial mortgage from Allica Bank via Breadalbane Finance and included investment from Caltech and the other investors, who will help with running and promoting the business centre. Kyle Moir, commercial property partner at Thorntons Law, acted for Caltech on the deal, which was completed on 29 February.

With the deal, the brothers are gaining the thriving, two-storey, 2,000-m2 Affinity Business Centre, two warehouses totalling 666 m2, a store, a 40-space car park with seven EV charging points and a 0.4-acre service yard with a 5-kW wind turbine. The business centre features 29 high-quality offices, and its 15 tenants include firms from a range of sectors including homecare, subsea engineering, legal, communications networks and marketing.

The Renwicks and their business partners plan to continue to run Affinity House as a fully-let business centre — renting out office and storage space, including a hot-desking area. Caltech will use one of the warehouses, as well as an open-plan office which has an internal office, meeting room and kitchen. The space can comfortably accommodate 25 people. The building also has a gym for tenants and staff. Caltech plans to move in by June.

Lift Showroom

The firm also aims to set up a showroom for passenger lifts, platform lifts and stairlifts so clients can see them in person before buying. It will also enable Caltech to host technical seminars for clients’ design teams, as well as conduct apprentice training in a controlled, unpressured environment.

Fully-let, the centre is projected to yield tenant rental income of £372,000 a year, including from the units Caltech uses. That will be supplemented by a plan to rent out self-storage containers in the service yard and the warehouse and store Caltech won’t use. The new owners predict that could increase annual rental income to £420,000.

“A Hefty Goal”

Speaking about the step-change in Caltech’s growth plan, Managing Director Andrew Renwick said:

“This was always a hefty goal for us on our road to the future Caltech we envision — one we’ve been looking to achieve for the last eight years. We looked at several premises, but it had to be the perfect place for us. This move will allow us space to accommodate more staff, equipment and parts for increased orders as we grow from £4.2 million turnover and six-figure profit in 2022-23 towards our £4.5 million 2023-24 turnover target and on to our £6 million growth aim.”

Three-Year Goals

Andrew said Caltech’s three-year goals include doubling the maintenance portfolio, further expanding company service south of the border, opening an office in Glasgow to better support the team working there and increasing Caltech’s “turnkey installations” by 50%. Turnkey installations are when Caltech assumes the principal contractor role and brings in sub-contractors associated with the complete, all-trades work associated with lift installations.

The brothers said customers will benefit from being able to come and see product offerings. The bigger warehouse, meanwhile, will allow for more parts to be held in stock, enabling quicker repairs. As sales volumes increase, they expect better prices from manufacturers. The company is also looking to add to its administration and operations teams, resulting in more efficient back-office support for Caltech field engineers, which Andrew said “will make things more slick and streamlined.” 

The brothers noted the move is part of a larger vision. Andrew stated:

“Part of our growth strategy is long-term investment, so this continues that. We always aimed to be ‘live-in landlords,’ as it makes sense for the business, and we’re confident we’ll be good at it. We have some spare offices and hot desks, so any prospective tenants should get in touch.”

Staff Well-being

Importantly, the well-being of Caltech staff when in the office will improve thanks to the well-appointed staff rooms, brand-new kitchens, shower facilities, meeting rooms, a barbecue area the brothers plan to create and a gym. “This building has lots of great things which make it a really positive working environment,” Andrew observed, adding, “We’re relishing the prospect of the new heights we can achieve for the company, its customers and staff after we move in.”