A growing Teesside accounting firm has moved into a sci-fi themed office - complete with its very own Tardis - as it looks to the future.
Howard Bedford set up HMB Accountants 24 years ago to provide a range of accountancy, tax and business services across Teesside and North Yorkshire. He was joined by his wife Sarah, who has more than 28 years of experience in accountancy, six years ago.
Changes to working practices since the start of the pandemic has led to the couple seeking out new office space, resulting in the move to Manor Way, on Belasis Hall Technology Park in Billingham.
And part of the office shake-up led to the pair commissioning the creation of of their very own replica of Tardis, as featured in long-running BBC series Doctor Who.
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Lifelong sci-fi fan Mr Bedford said: “Our new premises have a slightly smaller footprint than the previous space, however it is a better lay-out, making it seem bigger on the inside than the outside, just like a Tardis.
“Our new offices have a large open plan office space for the team to work together and the model Tardis will be landing in the main office, forming the entrance to the dedicated meeting room – which is another space we didn’t have in our old home.”
Mrs Bedford said: “The Tardis idea came about when we were looking at furniture options; one of the suppliers we were considering had a competition to win a second-hand model.
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“We decided to use The Optimum Group, who said they’d be able to make us a model and the idea spiralled from there.
“We spend a lot of time at work and need to enjoy being here, so we anticipate it will make us smile every time we come in.”
The couple said their personal relationship has helped them to weather the storm of Covid, and they are looking forward to continuing to build the business over the next 12 months.
Mrs Bedford said: “Because we come as a team, we have been able to better serve our clients, as we weren’t impacted by social distancing. When working from home, we could still take advantage of the working relationship between us, and, now we have returned to the office, Howard and I were less restricted by social distancing rules, enabling us to collaborate more easily.
“While we did lose some long-term clients over the course of the pandemic, we gained new ones too.
“This has helped us regain our focus in the services we offer and how we deliver them to our clients and we can now see light at the end of the Covid tunnel and a bright future for Teesside.”
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen added: “The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on businesses right across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, but we are bouncing back and it’s great to see Howard and Sarah move into new offices and create opportunities by taking on a new member of staff. Since March 2019 firms have faced unprecedented challenges, but in Teesside we know our comeback is always greater than the setback.”