Pioneering Leicestershire firm Abacus Flooring Solutions has announced its imminent move to bigger premises following an incredible year of continued growth.
The resin flooring specialist will triple the size of its facility when it moves from its current site in Coalville to a new 3,000 sq ft industrial unit in Belton Road, Loughborough.
Established only three-and-a-half years ago by husband-and-wife-team Nick and Amanda Megson, Abacus has also grown from nothing in 2020 to a £1m-plus turnover last year – with a current forecast that it will break the £2m barrier by the end of this year.
The multi-award-winning company’s rapid success is largely the result of a ‘world-first’ innovation developed by Nick called Abaplas.
Abaplas is a resin flooring system that uses 100 per cent recycled waste plastic as a bulking material instead of the traditionally used silica sand, which is damaging to human health and the environment.
The firm’s expansion will trigger the launch of a new umbrella company, Abacus Materials Ltd, which will consolidate the trading and handling of all recycled plastics and resin flooring systems.
Nick said the Loughborough move is initially expected to create up to five new jobs, adding to the eight full-time staff already employed by Abacus. He will also establish a new training centre to encourage a new generation of younger workers into the resin flooring industry.
“If you’d told me three years ago that Abacus would grow to a £2m company operating from a 3,000 sq ft site, I simply wouldn’t have believed you,” said Nick. “I often have to pinch myself to convince me that this is not a dream."
“But our order book has gone through roof and continues to grow. After winning multiple awards, mostly as a result of the Abaplas invention, we are now making great strides in the global market as well as the UK."
“Business is certainly booming. People have quickly caught on to the fact that Abaplas is hugely sustainable; it cuts the carbon emissions produced by the heavy mining of silica sand as well as preventing vast quantities of waste plastic ending up in landfill or the world’s oceans.”
Abacus Flooring Solutions racked up eight international and regional industry awards in 2023, adding to another eight awards picked up since it launched during lockdown.
The Abacus count last year included a global bronze award at the Green World Awards in Miami, where the Coalville-based firm pipped 500 international nominees to the post.
The team also won two prized FeRFA (the resin flooring association) awards, another brace at the Leicestershire Live Business Awards, best start-up firm in the East Midlands Business Masters Awards and both innovation and environmental impact plaudits at the East Midlands Chamber Business Awards.
The first resin flooring installation using the Abaplas 100 per cent recycled plastic system was at JCB’s global headquarters in Staffordshire. The firm also recycled old plastic seats at Wembley Stadium in order to use within the stadium’s new Abaplas flooring in the royal box in addition to numerous other installations in healthcare, logistics, commercial and manufacturing sites.
Nick, who is travelling to the US this month to discuss the expansion of Abaplas with US, Canadian and other British firms, said: “We’re the only company in the world doing this. It’s more important now than ever to protect our planet so I will not rest until I’ve shared our innovation with the rest of the world."
“Our new training centre is also designed to ensure the next generation of flooring professionals puts the environment at the forefront of their priorities.”
