Construction and landscaping specialist Crown Group is to play a leading role in the expansion of Warners Bros studios – home to blockbusters including Harry Potter and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The Midlands-based company has secured a major landscaping project at the sprawling 150-acre Hertfordshire site as part of the latest instalment of the multi-million pound studios' expansion.
Warners Bros is constructing additional sound stages, workshops, a multi-storey car park and a state of the art graphics and design space at Leavesden.
A Landscape Planting Strategy, which includes substantial new planting along the western edge of the backlot and in and around the Studio Tour car park extension, will be delivered by Crown Group.
Managing director Gareth Emberton said the contract due to complete by Spring 2017 was the latest in a string of business wins for the sub-contractor, which has doubled in size in the last year.
He said: “We are passionate about construction and horticulture working hand in hand and we've delivered commercial landscaping schemes successfully across the UK for some time.
“However, our long term strategy was always to expand our core business, developing more of an integrated approach to the design, building and maintenance of construction and landscaping projects.
“We're seeing the result of this in the last year with a number of high-profile contracts, including this one at the home of cinema's greatest movies, including Casablanca and of course, the Harry Potter films.
“The contract at Warner Bros supports the master plan for the next ten years for the site which attracts more than five million visitors a year.”
The Group is also seeing significant growth in its facilities management and environmental management divisions. And Gareth is convinced this is because top construction contractors, whether working on key infrastructure projects such as HS2 or private sector investments like Warners Bros, want contractors who can solve problems.
Gareth said: “Our focus is always on how we can innovate the process, to help the construction giants we work with, such as Bowmer & Kirkland and Galliford Try, save time and money.”
One of the key factors in our growth has been our ability to not just provide the materials and the manpower, but to work in partnership with leading contractors to plan properly.
“We understand how construction works, as the key is to deliver a living product, which both the clients and planners are happy with. This needs to happen during at times complex construction processes and site specific issues and constraints. The aim is always to deliver a high quality project, with a supply chain which spans Europe, nurturing the completed project through it’s establishment and ongoing maintenance through to maturity.”
