The team at Thorns Group is capitalising on its experience and expertise within the events and exhibitions markets by launching a new specialist staffing company - Thorns Support Services Ltd.
The business will provide both short-term staff and longer-term contract personnel to customers including catering companies, hoteliers, restaurateurs, exhibition organisers and sporting arenas. Other target customers will range from office-based businesses to shopping centres.
Expertise to be offered to customers will include kitchen cleaners, porters, back-of-house staff, warehouse operatives and security personnel.
Based at Thorns' London head offices, the new venture will complement the existing, highly successful activities of the group, whose origins date back more than half a century and now involves three separate divisions - Thorns Furniture and Catering Hire, Camden Exhibition Services and Classic Technical Services.
Between them, the three long-standing businesses offer a diverse range of services and equipment including furniture and catering equipment hire, lighting and power distribution, specialist flooring, designer florals and exhibition furniture.
Thorns Support Services is to be headed by Managing Director Wayne Smith, whose previous experience includes senior management positions in the support services sector as well as management roles in the retail industry. He has managed support contracts at high-profile venues including Wembley Stadium, the NEC, the O² Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal football grounds.
He said: "Companies are increasingly seeking flexible, cost-effective staffing solutions, whether requiring extra personnel for a large, one-off event or needing additional contract workers over a period of several weeks or months. Thorns Support Services will be able to meet these requirements through a combination of permanent staff and additional freelance workers who can respond to customers' specific needs as and when they arise."
The new venture's sourcing of personnel has already got off to an excellent start, thanks both to Thorns Group being an established and trusted name in the industry and to the new company's philosophy of offering enhanced packages to staff. These will include paying above the minimum wage and offering training - for example to NVQ-level qualifications.
Meanwhile, customers will be assured of highly competitive prices because Thorns Support Services will be able to greatly restrict its back-office costs by utilising Thorns Group's existing London-based facilities and expertise, in areas such as administration, IT and accounts.
Wayne Smith will spend coming weeks and months expanding the new company's staff and developing its database of casual workers. The initial focus is expected to be on customers in Greater London and the Home Counties, although enquiries from other regions mean that the business's coverage is likely to extend quickly to other parts of the UK.
Thorns Support Services is also seeking to maximise it green credentials. Its environmental efforts will extend across recycling of materials, sharing of staff vehicles and ensuring workers are placed in assignments as near to their home as possible, The business is also focusing on using eco-friendly materials and limiting the use of water where possible.
