With 2021 now well and truly behind us, we thought it would be a great time to give you a snapshot of some of the highlights from the Group over the last 12 months.  Thanks to a great team effort, the Group has exceeded expectations and seen growth, expanded its skill-base with the foundation of our new Digital Division and continued to offer our customers the first-class products and service that we have built the business on over the last 230 years.  All of this in spite of the restrictions placed on all businesses due to the continued global pandemic.

Read on to learn more…

Top Brand Partnerships

2021 continued our work with many of the UK’s finest brands.  Continuous rollouts of new store branding and intuitive signage with top brands including NatWest Group, Tesco, Barclays, Majestic and Superdrug was combined with projects across the globe with brands including Bank of America, NTT and BT.

On the right flight path!

When you want your brand to be seen, where better than across the roof of one of London’s largest sports stadia.  Handily positioned on the flight path in and out of Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest airports, the roof of Twickenham Stadium was seen as the ideal place for a one-off installation by Pearce Signs for British Airways, as it would be seen by international travellers flying into and out of the capital.  The banners produced were longer than a 747 jumbo jet at just shy of 100m and were manufactured in sections to assist with the logistical and installation part of the project, which took six weeks to complete.

Click here to read the case study and watch the video.

A United Project

The start of a three-year project, Pearce Signs delivered the complete turn-key solution for Unite the Union as it looked to brand its new headquarters, initially working to secure the appropriate planning consents and then collaborating with a range of stakeholders on the project to ensure the signs were manufactured and installed across a number of phases, as construction of the site progressed.  We also liaised with the local council & highways authorities to secure all necessary traffic management requirements where needed to allow the signs to be installed using a variety of access machines.

Click here to read the case study and watch the video.

Let’s go Digital!

Whilst analogue signs and signage have always been the mainstay of the Group, digital solutions have become ever-more popular, which is why 2021 saw the creation of a new company within the Group – Pearce Digital.  Headed up by AV industry professional Martin Featherstone, Pearce Digital adds the skills, knowledge and capacity to create compelling digital solutions that can be mixed with traditional signage and utilised in any retail or commercial environment.

Projects already completed include a totally new ‘immersive wine tasting’ concept for the UK’s largest specialist wine retailer – Majestic.  As well as receiving a contemporary facelift to its passive store signage via sister company Pearce Signs, Majestic also tasked our Digital division to design, specify, instal & project manage a new ‘immersive wine tasting’ space at its Winchester concept store, which includes digital signage, interactive video playback, live video feeds and local wireless presentation input.  Launching with great success, the installation is a great showcase for the possibilities of digital solutions.

Click here to find out more about Pearce Digital.

Pearce Electrical Flies the Flag!

2021 saw Superdrug PLC open its 1300^th and new flagship store at The Fort Birmingham, with significant involvement from the Pearce Group of companies.  From start to finish, the whole re-fit of the 10,000 square foot site, which also includes a beauty studio, took just five weeks, with Pearce Electrical completely upgrading all of the electrical fittings and lighting.  Dove-tailing perfectly with Pearce Signs, our electrical division put everything in place so that the illuminated signs shone out and made the statement that the client required.

Pearce Electrical UK have been involved with the design and construction of multiple Superdrug Superstores over a number of years and have become the ‘go-to’ electrical contractors on major projects across the UK and Ireland.

Click here to find out more about Pearce Electrical.

Investment in Technology

Even during these unprecedented times, Pearce Group has continued to invest in the tools that allows us to create some of the best solutions for our clients.  Significantly, 2021 saw us invest over £250,000 in the latest high-spec printer from industry-leader SwissQprint – the Nayala 4.  Offering a whole host of features that significantly increases our productivity, the Nayala 4 is already benefitting our clients, demonstrating superior print-quality at high-speed, whilst offering the most advanced direct-to-media print solution available.

The Nayala 4 in numbers:

• 2×2 metre flatbed
• 1350 dpi maximum resolution
• Up to 18 print heads
• 206 m2/h
• 256 vacuum segments holds substrates flat and firmly in place
• Multi-print-media compatible
• Zero harmful constituents and ozone with barely any rejects or waste

EV-Peasy Charging!

As part of our continued sustainability commitment, 2021 has seen a steady shift away from traditional combustion engines within our works vehicles across to electric power. With five EV charging stations now available across our sites, 2022 will see additional EV vehicles join the fleet as we look to migrate fully to electric power for all works vehicles over the coming years.

Our commitments continue through 2022, with plans already in place to install solar solutions across our factory sites for complete self-sufficient power for our manufacturing plants.  Watch this space for further updates.

It’s not just all work, work, work…

Here at Pearce Group, we work hard to deliver great projects for our clients but we also like to unwind a little too.  2021 has not been easy for obvious reasons but during the summer, we hosted a staff party on board a party boat along the river Trent.

It was great to ‘let off some steam’ on the Riverboat Shuffle, with lots of fun had by all throughout the evening. Oh and thankfully, everyone who started the trip, disembarked safe and soundly without the need of buoyancy aids!

So 2021 has been quite a year, with 2022 already looking to eclipse it.  The above is just a small update of highlights, with many more projects being worked on across the year.  Keep an eye on our website for the latest news from the Pearce Group and don’t forget to contact us for any of your signage needs, be it analogue or digital.