A Moray based engineering and construction company which is celebrating 25 years in business is marking the year by opening its doors to the public and introducing staff service awards.
AJ Engineering & Construction Services Ltd., is also going to create a timeline of key business achievements and developments over its 25-year history.
AJ Engineering is located at Forres and was founded by managing director Alan James in 1999.
Alan started the company as the sole employee after being made redundant from William Reid Engineering which was also located in Forres.
Alan said:
“I am very proud of this business birthday, and we are looking forward to being able to celebrate throughout the year.
“Twenty-five years in business is a massive achievement.
“When we celebrated our 20 years in 2019, I did not expect that a year later to face the start of significant and unique destabilising challenges of leaving Europe, COVID, the Ukraine War and then the consequential recession.
“So no matter how established a business is, there are always challenges that have to be faced.
“However, there have also been many highlights and I think it’s really important, that at key moments like the 25 years in business, that we take a step back and acknowledge that.”
In the last few years, AJ Engineering has had many highlights.
In 2020, despite Covid, it announced that it was expanding its premises to Waterford in Forres in a £2.5 million investment which has allowed the company to increase production and employ more staff.
The new site was then officially opened by The Princess Royal, a year later.
Also, in 2021, Alan was announced as regional director of the year in the Institute of Directors (IoD) Scotland awards and it was the first year, that a team were deployed to work in Antarctica.
Alan added:
“There’s been a lot happening, but I think that all these developments have been key to the success of AJ Engineering.
“We have a very experienced, formidable team that are always looking for new opportunities for the company based on the underlying primary focus of customer service whatever and wherever the challenge.
“More recently we have expanded AJE into England with a marketing representative based in London and a team located in Carlisle and there will be a further development at our Waterford site this spring when new equipment is installed which will make us a key player in the production of galvanised steel electrical transmission towers.”
As in 2019, AJ Engineering plans to become part of Moray Doors Open Day on Saturday, September 7, as Alan explained:
“We loved opening our doors to the public in our 20th year, so we hope to do it again this September, but this time it will be the facility at Waterford which people can visit.
“This has never been opened to the public before.
“The previous Doors Open Day was a huge success especially for the interest shown by young folk and maybe we inspired another generation of engineers and maybe we will do that again
“We also want to hold a staff service awards ceremony at our Christmas celebration outing which will acknowledge the dedication of our long-serving members of staff.
“As well as that, we also hope to have some kind of visual fixture located at our HQ here in Forres which shows the highlights and developments of the company since it was founded.”
AJ Engineering is known for its expertise in providing and installing high quality specialist fabrications including substation and water treatment buildings, road and rail bridges and creating bespoke fabrication and machined items such as manufacturing and providing a replacement underslung inspection gantry on the Kessock Bridge which is used to carry out examinations on the bridge.
