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History

Britain 1930, in the depth of depression, may not have been the ideal time to start a business, but entrepreneur Jimmy James was convinced the future lay in the rapidly expanding world of electrical installation work.   With the help of a loan from a business man in London´s Phoenix Place the new company, specializing in electrical contracting was born, (registered 1st April 1931) and with it a name that decades later would be associated with quality, expertise, professionalism and an unrivalled standard of service.   Jimmy knew little about the electrical business so he employed a small team of electricians, one of whom was Tom Adams. This link with the Adams family has continued through the years to Tom´s son Dennis, 46 years service with the organization holding the position of Deputy Managing Director to his son Jason a Project Engineer.   In the late 1930´s as war was looming in Europe, Phoenix Electrical went from strength to strength. Empty factories, and others already in use, were commandeered by the government to manufacture ammunition, with Phoenix employed to carry out the electrical work.   With war raging in Europe, London soon became heavily bombed with many of the capitals fine buildings severely damaged. It was during this time that Jimmy and Tom, now Contracts Manager, became acquainted with many top London architects, all of whom were eager to see a fine city rise from this destruction – and with a great deal of work for Phoenix.   In the immediate post war years the company continued to grow, rapidly establishing itself as a reputable electrical contractor, both in terms of size and number of contracts gained.   Within 15 years of the war ending Phoenix, based at London Bridge, had emerged as one of the largest electrical contractors in London and the South East.   Links were established with a local glazing company, Faulkner and Green, in which Jimmy James became a major share holder. Then in the early sixties Jimmy James was killed in a car accident, Stan Brigdon became Managing Director but a few years later died from head injuries as a result of a boating accident. Ron Huff and then Eddie Ackers took up this roll. During these years of changes in management there was a history of take-overs and acquisitions. Firstly Alcan decided to buy Faulkner Green and just as the deal was going through Alcan itself was bought by Pillar Engineering, who in turn was taken over by RTZ (Rio Tinto Zinc). Phoenix flourished as part of RTZ´s Pillar division.   Further expansion saw the company spread its wings even further afield and a considerable amount of work was obtained overseas under Charles Davies who became Managing Director (two of Charles sons, Darren and Adam, currently work as Project Managers for Phoenix). Major investment by the Arabs in the Middle East resulted in Phoenix winning big electrical contracts. The company could offer comprehensive electrical and mechanical services anywhere in the world with registered offices in London, Sheffield and Brighton in the United Kingdom and Pakistan, Dubai, Oman, Egypt, Hong Kong, Jordon, Barbados and Saudi Arabia overseas.   Each overseas office was managed by expatriate staff backed up with locally recruited labour. The necessary liaison between head office and the various far flung locations was maintained by frequent travel, so that productivity did not suffer from communication gaps (there was no internet or web cam conferencing in those days). Some of the overseas projects undertaken by Phoenix were;   New Dubai Hospital, UAE Police Headquarters, Dubai, UAE Sheraton Hotel, Dubai, UAE Novotel Hotel, Sharjah, UAE Corniche Hotel, Dubai, UAE Dubai Petroleum Company, UAE Hypermarket, Kinshasa, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo) Cold Store, Abu Dhabi, UAE Tracking Station, Jehel Ali, UAE Holiday Inn, Barbados, West Indies Marriot Hotel, Barbados, West Indies Intercontinental Hotel, Ocho Rios, Jamaica Tracking Station, Falkland Islands   Phoenix was able to compete on a global level due to the years of expertise gained working with international contractors often at long range. The exporting facility used to move materials and plant was highly efficient and experience was not only commercial but also civil works embodying harbours, cement works, tunnels, airfields and road works.   Meanwhile in England business was booming. Phoenix electricians were involved in a steady stream of work. By the early eighties overseas work had tailed off due to falling oil prices except for one project, a concrete factory in Togliatti Russia.   In 1981 RTZ decided to sell Phoenix to Bernard Nordling of Sweden but this ownership only lasted 18 months and was not a success Phoenix had difficulty obtaining parent company guarantees, so the interest was sold to Bernard Sunley & Sons(a Lonrho company) in 1983. The head office was relocated in 1984 to Beckenham, Kent into the same building as Sunleys. At this time the London Property Boom began, bought about by the deregulation of the money markets (remembered as the ‘‘big bang”). Phoenix gained numerous prestigious contracts throughout the Capital.   While the main body of the company dealt with the large projects the smaller contracts throughout the rest of the United Kingdom were dealt with by Sheffield based Hall and Stinson, which like Phoenix was founded in the 1930´s and established a firm foundation by carrying out contract work during the war years on military installations. Hall and Stinson were purchased in 1970 by Pillar Engineering Limited who already owned Phoenix. From 1970 Hall and Stinson became a division of Phoenix.   In 1988 Phoenix Electrical Company Limited became one of the first electrical contractors to achieve quality assured status and was accredited in accordance with the Standard ISO 9001: 1994.   In the early nineties Phoenix opened an additional office in Crawley to cater for the Gatwick Airport contracts, this office although small picked up projects all along the south/south east coast. During this period the location of head office changed again to Penge, London SE20.   Charles Davies was unfortunately killed in a road accident in 1998, Brian Upton became Managing Director. In 1991 Phoenix became part of SWALEC (South Wales Electricity), in 1997 SWALEC became known as Hyder PLC providing gas, electricity and water throughout Wales, soon after Hyder were purchased by Western Power (an American company) but they decided they did not want to retain any of the smaller companies (one of which being Phoenix). Mr David Howell (Chairman) felt this was a prime opportunity for a Management buy out and this was finalised in February 2001 with the aid of funding from the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC). David Cunningham and Brian Ingram took the helm as joint Managing Directors Phoenix were awarded their largest project to date Wembley National Stadium. Towards the latter stages of Wembley, Lanston Ltd purchased Phoenix bringing additional resources and financial strength to the company and relocated the head office to modern refurbished offices in Central London,   Now under Peter Elsom owner of Lanston Limited, the company will continue to grow, with the re-introduction of a mechanical department and a newly formed maintenance division and accredited to tender for work on the railways Phoenix is destined to grow from strength to strength.       Owners of Phoenix Faulkner Green 1957 to 1963 Pillar 1963 to 1978 RTZ (Rio Tinto Zinc) 1978 to 1983 Sunleys 1983 to 1993 Swalec 1993 to 1998 Hyder 1997 to 2001 Management buy out 2001 to 2006 Lanston Limited 2006 to present day   Managing Directors of Phoenix       Managing Director Jimmy James 1930 to 1962 Managing Director Stan Brigdon 1962 to 1965 Managing Director Ron Huff 1965 to 1971 Managing Director Eddie Ackers 1971 to 1985 Managing Director Charles Davies 1985 to 1998 Managing Director Brian Upton 1998 to 2002 Joint Managing Directors David Cunningham, Brian Ingram 2002 to 2006 Managing Director Lee Compton 2006 to present day       Return to top

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PHOENIX Electrical Company Limited Cityside House 40 Adler Street London E1 1EE Tel: 02074221900 Email: Dave Cunningham or Adam Jolliffe