History
Rich in history
Gresham has been designing and manufacturing high quality, dynamic and innovative office furniture since 1976. Co-founder Ted Smith, a typewriter engineer, saw many tired and tatty office desks during his work and so decided to design and build a desk from his garden shed.
The Design2000 was a fully welded, high-use desk that quickly found favour within Police Authorities, Higher Education and Construction Sectors throughout the UK. Such was the success of the Design2000 desk that it is still sold today.
The business quickly expanded and moved into a warehouse in Bolton. Over the following years more relocation ensued and the company worked from split sites. Gresham bought a number of electric milk floats in 1993 to move components between locations, demonstrating their ‘green’ credentials.
Gresham started designing & manufacturing seating to complement their desking & storage ranges. Their growth continued at such a pace that they relocated once again to a purpose built state of the art manufacturing facility in 1999. A £1m ‘Bio-Mass’ incineration plant was installed to burn all waste board to generate heat for the factory, further highlighting the Companies commitment to the environment.
During 2012 Gresham opened showrooms in both Central London and the Middle East.
The 180,000 sq ft has site has since been extended to over 200,000 sq ft. and in 2014 Gresham purchased a further 4 acres of development land, ready for the next chapter of their expansion.
Julian Roebuck’s first contact with Gresham was in 1993 during his placement year from University where his 12 month project was to assist the company in achieving their BS EN ISO9001 Quality Accreditation. Julian joined Gresham in a Business Development capacity in 2004 and became Managing Director in 2008 after an MBO.
Gresham’s workforce now boasts more than 250 people, producing over 11,000 units of furniture per week.
Fact: The name ‘Gresham’ derived from a former cotton mill in Oldham, Lancashire.
