Major Telford employer set to enjoy landmark 60th birthday

McPhillips Wellington was founded by Jim McPhillips 60 years ago with the watchwords of 'safety, quality, value and production'.

The business says those qualities continue to underscore the work of the company today.

And Paul Inions, McPhillips' managing director, said: “The company gets under your skin. It’s easy to feel a valuable part of it, which is why people tend to stay here for a long time.

"I think my fellow board members would agree that we’re the custodians of a very special company.

"We owe it to everyone concerned over the past 60 years to ensure that we keep building on our successes to date.”

Early on, the business was about digging footings and drainage for local house builders.

This was followed by expansion during the 1980s into larger industrial buildings for businesses moving into Telford.

Further expansion saw complex civil engineering projects bearing the name of McPhillips on site banners.

Today McPhillips provides industry leading design, construction and development to the residential infrastructure, public civil engineering and building sectors throughout the Midlands, North West England and Wales.

The diverse experience of civil engineering and building contracts provides a unique ‘single source’ solution.

McPhillips has always been based in Shropshire and moved to its current purpose built headquarters at Hortonwood, Telford in 1989.

It employs more than 240 personnel, including a 170 strong in-house workforce for on-site labour, 80 per cent of whom live within 20 miles of head office in Telford.

Over 20 per cent of McPhillips’ direct workforce began life as apprentices and every year a fresh intake of apprentices are placed into suitable teams, each fulfilling genuine roles within the company.

They receive a competitive wage whilst also studying towards an NVQ Level 2 in Construction Operations at Telford college.