Member Article

Successive year revenue doubling leads to expansion for North Shields play company

North Shields-based Infinite Playgrounds has announced expansion plans on the back of impressive revenue growth and recruitment.

The play company reported a 60% rise in annual revenues to £2.5m in 2015 and added an extra 10 staff taking its total workforce to over 40.

Now Infinite has opened a new base in the South East, which it aims to rapidly grow to the size of its North East operation.

Closer to the region, the company is looking to treble the size of its office and studio space at its base on Westmorland Road, from which it has created, delivered and installed play equipment to over 500 schools from Aberdeen to Dorset.

Co-founder and creative director Helen Law, who established the new Brighton base last week, said: “We continue to grow quickly. We have doubled our revenues in each successive year and will continue to increase our staff numbers.

“With much of our work outside the region it is vital for the business that we establish a South East base to help us maintain our momentum. Our ambition is to recreate what we have built in the North East within the space of two years.”

Ms Law and fellow co-founder Sam McGeever met while working on an arts in schools project on Tyneside and launched the business in 2010.

Mr McGeever said: “For many of our recruits it is their first job and many move on the become managers after just a few years. The most important thing for us is the attitude of the people we recruit. Our aim is to find the right people and train them in the skills we need whether it be joinery, health and safety or management.

“Our aim is to create the right culture for our business and employees. We work an 8am to 4.30pm a day, and as a company we have never taken on any debt.”

In the North East Infinite Playgrounds has completed projects at Childsplay Nursery in Newcastle, Cleaswell Hill School, Choppington, The National Trust at Seaton Deleval Hall and The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, amongst others.

As well as schools it has delivered on some major contracts across the UK to design and build children’s play equipment for country parks.

In September last year it completed a £250,000 Stick Man play scheme for Essex County Council at Weald Country Park near Brentwood.

Ms Law, who, working collaboratively with Sam McGeever, creates the initial play design as a watercolour sketch, said its business is in step with the times as the Government aims to place a greater emphasis on outdoor play and learning.

“We are seeing a shift in the understanding of the way children learn, with natural play being placed at the forefront of education.

“There is a growing realisation that an outdoor classroom is not just a classroom outside; It is a space for exploration. Every child should experience risk, but this should be risk, not danger. It should be an age-appropriate risk which helps youngsters learn the boundaries of what they can and cannot do.”

Infinite Playgrounds expect to add further £1m to revenue this year and take on additional staff. It is aiming to broaden its potential market to include a greater variety of public open spaces, housebuilders and housing associations. It is also aiming to secure more work in its home region.

Mr McGeever said: “We are a North East company and want to support the schools on our own doorstep.

“There is immense room for expansion of our company and our ideas. Some of the major world’s major play leaders are based in Germany, but there are no companies in the UK offering the products and level of service we can deliver.

“We want to encourage natural play. We want to help spread the word and our ambitions are big.”

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