Background

Marstons were looking for a new headquarters and had decided to specify a large regeneration project on St John’s House in St Johns Square, Wolverhampton, commissioning a brand-new office space for 250 staff.

Andy Kershaw, head of property at Marston’s, who also worked on the Marston’s House redevelopment back in 2016, said: “This is such an exciting announcement for Marston’s following the unprecedented changes that the company has been through over the last 12 to18 months. Now more than ever, the need for an environmentally friendly and sustainable city office space is critical and that is something that we are striving to achieve for St. John’s House. Work is set to start on the project in January 2022 with target completion in January 2023.”

Council cabinet member for city economy, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said: “Marston’s remains one of the city’s major employers and a brand that puts Wolverhampton on the map globally.

“I am delighted they are now further investing through the refurbishment of St John’s House. It shows a real commitment to our city.

“It will not only bring back to life this vacant office building but will also provide job opportunities for our citizens and deliver a major boost to the local economy at a time when we are looking to relight the city following the impact of the pandemic.

“There is £4.4 billion of investment on site or in the pipeline in the City of Wolverhampton and this move by a fantastic Wolverhampton company is another boost for our regeneration plans.”

Project Requirements

In line with this state-of-the-art regeneration project, Marstons were very clear that their Access Control needed to be a contemporary solution and began a journey of exploration with Thompsons AVC to find the right equipment which offered a contemporary look and feel with a reliable system to manage the access of their employees at two main entry points.

This consisted of a visit to CAME head office at Castle Donington where the CAME ÖZAK HG02 speed gates were selected for their sleek look and feel, and open-ended design making them perfect for interoperability with other systems chosen in the entire security suite of products by Thompsons.

Solution

All the Marston's facilities have been consolidated under one roof, which also include training and development for not only head office employees but also pub team members. This includes a full pub experience within the building with bar and food facilities.

As Marston’s operates an estate of around 1,500 pubs and employs about 11,000 people nationally, it was important that security was of the high end and subsequently the project requirements developed throughout the renovation meaning that Thompsons were able to pair the gates with facial recognition technology alongside a traditional access control solution using cards.

Following receipt of installation training and ground templates, John reported a super easy installation!

As a trusted and long serving security partner serving the Wolverhampton area for over 25 years, Thompsons AVC were the perfect choice for the Marstons transformation serving hundreds of staff to utilise this prime city centre location.