Last year Story Decorating Group Ltd celebrated its 50th anniversary and 2025 could provide further reasons to cheer, after it was shortlisted at the CN Specialists Awards. The company’s work on the Haymarket Square development in Edinburgh has been nominated in the Project of the Year by a Specialist Contractor (Sub-contract from £2m to £5m) category.
“This means everything,” explains Claire Story, Associate Director. “We are a very specialist contractor and being the final finishing trade means our work is what the eye sees. Many people overlook the work that goes into the decoration of a building. We often enter industry awards and have been recognised frequently within our sector, but this is next level. To be recognised not only in the decorating industry but across the construction sector will hopefully raise the profile of the hard work we do and attract people to work both for us and with us.”
The Haymarket Square project, in collaboration with main contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine and client, Quartermile, comprised painting and decorating of two state-of-the-art office buildings within this iconic city centre site. Many features were included in the work, including complex honeycomb-like suspended ceiling panels and lift shafts.
With a case of awards to its credit, this year Story also looks set to once again be successful in the Painting and Decorating Association’s premier trophy awards. In April it was named Johnstone’s Trade Paints Painter of the Year for the works completed on the Haymarket Square project.
With over 50 years of trading, today Story finds itself in an enviable position given the current uncertainty in the construction industry.
“Times seem very strange and uncertain, but we continue to thrive and work on the projects we choose to focus on,” adds Claire. “Labour is sparce, so the quality of work has to be right to attract the talent pool. We see lots of opportunity in the defence and public sector markets, as well as in the leisure sector, which is continuing to boom.”
Enjoying exceptional performance in unsettled times, Story has grown from strength-to-strength, which can be attributed to its drive and ambition, as well as the leadership and strategic decisions of the company’s owners, with this passion being regularly fed through to the staff.
“We are heavily focused on the impact we have on the environment and the social impact we have on our team, suppliers and customers. We utilise digital technology to assist us in our operations to give us real-time information and believe we are very well advanced in our industry in this area. We listen to others and are continuously looking at business Improvement to make us operationally excellent and become more efficient and competitive in a tough marketplace.
“We feel we stand out as we are clear and focused on the services we provide,” says Claire. “At the heart of our business are all of the traditional aspects of painting and decorating, together with spray application and application of various wall coverings. We also undertake fire protective coatings, epoxy flooring and screed, resin coatings and hygienic coatings. Huge investments have been made to ensure we flourish with our responsibilities instead of seeing them as something that holds us back, as many do. Our £1m investment in an offsite spray facility has shown our commitment to the futureproofing of our industry, together with gaining ISO14001.
“We assess the risk involved in all activities/ potential customers, we know who we want to do business with and are very targeted in what we do. We work predominantly with Tier One contractors on large scale commercial projects all over the UK.”
Story also communicates with all staff members regularly and with a team that fluctuates between 60-75 weekly, this can be difficult. “We have daily toolbox talks, weekly team meetings, monthly senior team meetings, quarterly supervisor meeting and each year we have a Story Startright event where we take every team member to a venue and discuss the business as a whole. This day is a wonderful opportunity to get everyone together who may not ever meet but talk to each other daily on the phone or via email.”
In addition to the award-laden Haymarket Square development, other significant projects Story has been working on include Everton FC’s new stadium on Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool; HMP Millsike in Yorkshire – the UK’s first all-electric, green prison; and Wirral Waters, a regeneration project transforming the left bank of the river Mersey.
Despite its ever-expanding portfolio of prestigious projects, Story continues to face a number of challenges, as Claire outlines: “There has been a huge skills gap and labour shortage in our industry since the Covid pandemic. This has proven to be very problematic and makes many projects difficult to carry out or, in some cases, even to price for. Apprentices are the lifeblood of our company, so we are strong believers in building our own talent pool and letting people grow with us.”
Challenges aside, Story remains buoyant about its future prospects for the next 12 months. “The aim is to continue to strengthen and grow Story to become the UK’s decorator of choice. Organic growth in challenging times would result in a fantastic year for our team.”
The future certainly looks bright for Story and further award success looks a distinct possibility too, as it strives to add to its already impressive collection of accolades.