This autumn the global cleaning giant will have a new home – and it’s streets ahead of the old facility, if not streets apart.
Kärcher UK’s brand new, purpose-built UK headquarters will open for business at Banbury’s Brookhill Way on Tuesday 13th September 2016.
The move has been a long time in the planning and, as the new site includes a Kärcher Center shop, a large Academy for customer and employee training, and in phase two a Wash Center for the public, the move is expected to make a difference to staff, customers and the local community alike.
When Kärcher in the UK launched back in the 1970s the world was a very different place, James Callaghan was prime minister, you could buy a house for £13K, and the now famous domestic range was still a decade away; Kärcher was at the outset a commercial and industrial supplier. Today the company has grown to employ almost 300 people and its product range now encompasses 380 machines across 13 product lines for both Home and Garden and Professional users.
Commenting on the move, Simon Keeping, Managing Director of Kärcher UK stated, “While Kärcher is renowned for our commercial and domestic pressure washers, other products are increasingly coming to the fore – among them our window vacs, steam cleaners and professional floor care solutions. These are exciting times and this opportunity, afforded by the company’s expansion, is testament to the quality inherent in Kärcher – not only of our products but of our team and its ethos too.”
“In order to maintain continuity amidst our growth and retain key Kärcher knowhow, remaining near to our Banbury roots was crucial” explains Keeping. Indeed the new site is only one mile from the old, albeit the environment will be very different.
The company is confident that the Kärcher Academy, through its certified training courses and Kärcher Center Banbury, through informal advice and support, will each serve to help better acquaint visitors with smarter, greener and more efficient cleaning practice.
The Kärcher Academy concept is a market-leading training facility for customers, distributors and employees. Tripling the size of the current Academy will enable the further development of the company’s already impressive training portfolio, in particular to accommodate larger floorcare and municipal machines and specialist industrial solutions like Ice Blasting, Ultra High Pressure and Industrial Vacuums. Moreover the new facility will enable year-round indoor training if the weather dictates, allowing more users than ever to access expert training, hands on.
The development also includes Banbury’s first Kärcher Center – a one-stop-shop for both domestic and commercial customers, offering sales, service and advice for the entire Kärcher range. Kärcher Center Banbury will be the latest in a national network of 18 existing Centers, and, alongside flagship stores Bristol and Nottingham, the UK’s third Kärcher owned, Kärcher operated Center. Kärcher worldwide aims to have 1,000 Kärcher Centers operational across the globe by 2020.
The new company address is:
Kärcher UK Ltd
Kärcher House
Brookhill Way
Banbury
OX16 3ED
Website, email and phone numbers remain unchanged:
Web: www.karcher.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01295 752 000
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About Kärcher UK:
Kärcher in the UK is a £120m+ subsidiary of the German parent, Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, based near Stuttgart, Germany. Worldwide, Kärcher employs over 11,000 people across 60 countries in 100 companies. In 2014, the cleaning technology specialists achieved their highest ever turnover of EUR 2.12 billion and sold the highest number of units in the company’s history, with 12.72 million machines.
Kärcher in the UK is based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, employing around 300 staff.
Whatever the task Kärcher has the perfect cleaning solution!
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Kärcher House on Brookhill Way
Then and now, Kärcher’s former Beaumont Road site
A view of reception on moving day