Genesee & Wyoming Case Study
Located at the Lewis Building in the Colmore Business District, the facility marks the start of the company’s wider investment programme to improve its operational performance and enhance customer service.
A talented population
The West Midlands is one of the largest hubs for shared services outside of London, with nearly 3,000 companies operating SSCs in the region.
Fuelling this rapid level of growth in the sector is the region’s thriving pipeline of business, professional and financial services (BPFS) talent.
Made up of the largest number of business graduates than any other regional area in the UK, the West Midlands’ young, highly-qualified talent pool is attracting more and more globally-renowned businesses to the region. This expanding portfolio of global brands is in turn increasing the number of high-value opportunities on offer and encouraging people across the country to relocate and work in the region.
Charles Noble, G&W’s Chief Financial Officer, said:
“There’s some amazing talent in Birmingham, which was crucial to us when deciding where to locate our new shared services centre. We went through a very detailed exercise all around the UK to look at where we could set up our new base. Birmingham stood out to us because of its location, talent base and energy. You can really feel the buzz in the city with all the building and development work that’s going on.”
A well-connected region
Situated close to the national motorway network, around 90 per cent of the UK population is within a four-hour drive of Birmingham. The city also has three train stations serving Birmingham Airport, London and the rest of the UK, with a fourth rail terminal planned to support the advent of HS2. Extensions to the Midland Metro Tram network will also improve links between the region’s network of towns and cities, bringing the local population closer together.
Mr Noble continued:
“As a central training facility, we knew that our new base needed to be located somewhere that staff from our operations across the UK and abroad could access easily. Birmingham fit the bill because of its central location and the breadth of its transport links. The pipeline of transport infrastructure in development also gave us confidence that the benefits of our investment would increase in the long-term, with major projects such as HS2 set to enhance the efficiency of our operations.”
The home of rail
As one of the leading rail freight companies in the world, it was important to G&W that their new home appreciated the significance and impact of the rail industry.
The West Midlands is steeped in railway heritage and continues to be a renowned centre for R&D excellence in transport and logistics.
“It was really encouraging for us to see that rail remains a priority industry for the region,” Mr Noble commented. We felt reassured that the move would be positive for our business and put us in an optimum position to grow our client base and stakeholder network.”
Investment support
Working with G&W to facilitate the creation of its new UK office, the West Midlands Growth Company offered tailored support to help the organisation settle in to its new home in the region.
“Initially Birmingham was in our top three locations. We weren’t as familiar with the area as other places in the UK, so we were grateful to colleagues at the West Midlands Growth Company who helped us to understand what was on offer. The advice and information they provided gave us a unique insight into what living and working in the region would be like and ultimately convinced us that Birmingham was the right place for our business.”
Drawing on its network of stakeholders and commercial contacts, the West Midlands Growth Company was able to introduce G&W to local businesses operating in the rail sector to help them foster connections and learn more about the region’s industry offering.
Support with talent attraction was also given by introducing G&W to a local recruitment firm to help the company select the region’s finest BPFS employees.
At the time of the office launch, the Growth Company’s communications team supported G&W throughout the process and helped to raise the US firm’s profile by arranging exclusive media coverage in regional titles.
Mr Noble continued:
“The support we had from the Growth Company eased the process of establishing our new base. The staff were a pleasure to work with and really understood our business and what we wanted to achieve with the new SSC. We’re delighted to be in Birmingham and excited about our future in the region”