The Hartlepool firm which expanded during the pandemic and here's how it did it

Simon Corbett, CEO of Orangebox Training pictured (pre-social distancing) with UKSE’s Sarah Thorpe at the Innovation Centre, Hartlepool.

Hartlepool firm Orangebox Training has won three major training contracts and bosses say changes to the business have worked wonders.

Simon Corbett, who set up the firm four years ago in UKSE’s Innovation Centre in Hartlepool, said: “We were working in four key areas of training when lockdown struck and felt we had to act really swiftly to protect the business.

“We closed down three of those areas and chose to concentrate on warehousing which was growing strongly. We had just started training 100 people for Amazon in Darlington but the classroom courses had to stop immediately. We were also unable to place any young people in work experience.”

The company had contracts with Tesco, Teesport, Hermes and others as well as Amazon. It took immediate advantage of the government’s furlough scheme for some of its 14-strong office team and of the grants that were available.

Orangebox also got ‘great support’ from UKSE’s Area Manager Sarah Thorpe, as well as colleges at Stockton and Sunderland and national prime funder System Group.

The firm moved all of its warehouse training online.

Simon added: “At that stage there were only four office staff operating but everyone worked unbelievably hard and we had two new platforms launched within five days – for our training team delivering the online training and for office staff registering learners securely.”

As the coronavirus struck, it had already trained more than 2000 people, was operating globally and across the UK and looking to an annual turnover of £1m.

Months later, the original 14-strong team is back with two more team members and six people joining its bank of skilled trainers.

Training rooms are re-opening too, in Bradford and Sunderland, with Covid-safety measures in place.

The three major new contracts involve large warehouse facilities, including one in the Tees Valley, set to create 1,500 jobs each. Demand has increased with the growth in home deliveries and online shopping.

Simon added: “We are also seeing an increase in enquiries for paediatric first aid and risk assessment training from schools and local authorities as they prepare schools for September.”

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