Birstall-based Easy Bathrooms to create 200 jobs at new HQ in Wakefield

The company, which will move into a new 330,000 sq ft head office and distribution centre at Calder Park in Wakefield in the autumn, said it will spend £7m on capital investment, including fork-lift trucks and emergency lighting, with local suppliers, plus £1m of business rates and the rest on paying the workforce on site.

The move is expected to make Easy Bathrooms one of the largest rate-payers to Wakefield Council and one of the biggest local employers.

The company plans to create 200 new jobs with the move, including 150 roles across marketing, operations, warehousing and finance by the end of the year.

Fifty vehicles are also on pre-order, in preparation for its anticipated growth, facilitated by the move, which will also create an additional 50 driving jobs.

An additional 200 roles will be created across the UK as the company rolls out new showrooms. Recruitment will begin this summer.

The new site, which is undergoing construction, is already supporting the employment of hundreds of skilled tradespeople and will create more than 83,000 labour hours for local contractors during the full build period, spearheaded by site owner Tungsten Developments.

Easy Bathrooms is investing £10m, funded by a loan from Lloyds Bank, into the fit-out of the new building.

Seventy per cent of the funding is set to be spent within the regional supply chain, including racking, sprinkler systems, fork-lift trucks, emergency lighting and smoke detection systems.

When fully operational, Easy Bathrooms estimates that the site will inject a further £300,000 per year into the immediate economy through spending at local cafés, pubs and shops.

Craig Waddington, Easy Bathrooms’ managing director and founder, said: “This move is the culmination of years of hard work and meticulous planning from our team, and I couldn’t be prouder to be creating jobs and supporting the thriving economy of Wakefield – the place where we opened our third showroom and home to one of my founding directors, Steve Browett.”

He added: “This year, we will open our 140th store.

“Wakefield will sit at the nucleus of this growth and be the beating heart of our business, so we truly believe that the site, which was previously designated as land for office space, will become an asset to the local vicinity.”

Easy Bathrooms said it will reach £100m in turnover in 2022 – the same as Victoria Plum, one of the most recognised brands in the market.

Already employing 645 people and with a turnover of £63.3m in 2021, it is growing quickly and is one of the biggest employers in the UK bathroom market – with an expected 58 per cent growth this year.

The move will triple its storage capacity from 15,000 to 60,000 pallet spaces.

The current headquarters in Birstall is home to what was its 11th showroom in April 2017.

The new site means that the bathroom supplier’s physical footprint will exceed one million sq ft as it also has 92 showrooms across the UK.