Headquartered in the UK, ISG delivers award-winning construction, fit-out and management services throughout the UK, Europe the Middle East and Asia. Working throughout a range of sectors, its portfolio encompasses small bespoke works through to major projects worth over £100M. ISG was established in 1989 and has been quoted on the AIM since 1998. Today the Group employs over 2,000 staff and has 27 offices worldwide.
Retail has become a significant part of ISG’s business accounting for approximately 20 per cent of the Group’s turnover, equating to circa £210M in the UK.
UK retail fit-out projects are shared across the group, with ISG Europe and ISG Asia providing international retail project delivery. RLI met with UK Fit-Out Managing Director Darren Hill and Business Development & Marketing Director, John Mawhinney to discuss the group’s recent development, the growth of its portfolio and of course its plans for the future; perhaps the biggest step in ISG’s evolution is that the recent listing of the traditional shopfitting side of the business.
“With the way the market has been performing of late, and we have seen that the number of clients looking at contractor-led solutions, ie: a single end-to-end service provider, has grown significantly,” explains Hill. “To address this, we have upskilled in certain areas, specifically in terms of the client-facing side of the business, to better develop our client relationships as well as delivering top quality projects.
“As a company, we specialise and work extremely well with concept designers and architects, together creating truly innovative new retail space.”
“Within the Group, ISG Cathedral is viewed very much as a traditional shopfitter. With the benefit of being part of a Plc group, and the financial security that we have behind us, we offer an assured service that clients know they can depend upon,” adds Mawhinney.
ISG has been very active in high street fashion over the past 18 months – Primark is a well-established client for whom the company has carried out a number of important projects – whilst internationally, it has undertaken a lot of work with Nike in France, as well as numerous projects throughout Europe for Footlocker.
“High street fashion has been fairly low key in terms of shopfitting activity but that picture is improving,” says Hill. “An interesting factor is the amount of international retailers that are targeting the UK market; we are in discussion with retailers from both the US and Spain who view this as the ideal time for an entry into the UK.”
A significant part of the company’s current core workload is retail banking and it has undertaken a number of flagship developments in that sector, as well as recently completing two hotels in the high-end and boutique market. In addition, it is currently
on site with a £4M project at the ladies’ shoe department in Selfridges, which will take in a host of international brands.
For the full article, please see the July/Augusst 2010 issue.
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