beforeUdig

First established in 2002 in Australia, beforeUdig offers assistance to contractors and excavators who need to locate underground assets. Before any building or excavation work is carried out, the location of all underground pipes and cables must be established. Traditionally this would be done by contacting all possible utility and asset owners in the area individually. beforeUdig takes this hassle away – using computer software, the company can provide information on all underground assets on site, giving the contractor or excavator one less thing to worry about and fewer phone calls to make. 

Having expanded the business into New Zealand already, Marcus wanted to grow further afield in Europe and selected the UK as the best place to start. He was keen to find the perfect UK location for his business – one which would provide easy access to his customers, a skilled workforce and a pleasant location to relocate to. 
 

Well connected to customers

The Heart of England proved to be the ideal location for this move with its great transportation links offering easy access to most parts of the country.

“We knew that our customer base in the UK would be widespread and so we wanted to make sure that wherever we were located, it had good transportation links. With a major rail route running right through the region, it makes reaching some of the UK’s biggest cities an easy task. In addition, road access via the M5, M40, M1 and M6 means that accessing both the south and north of the country is easy. For our customers who live further afield Birmingham airport is also close by”, comments Marcus.

Good value location

The proximity and easy access to the rest of the country was not the only reason that beforeUdig opted for a Heart of England base. The company was also looking for a UK base that would offer low set-up and operating costs as Marcus explains:

“When we investigated the costs of setting up our UK base, the Heart of England proved to offer the best value for money. We could get everything we needed but at a fraction of the cost that we would have paid in other parts of the country. Rental costs for premises were cheaper and with the cost of living less than in many other parts of the UK, it meant that opting for the Heart of England was an easy decision to make.”

Friendly and hard working population

In addition to the good transportation network and low set-up and operating costs, beforeUdig also benefits from the friendly and hard-working people in the region:

“The people we have met in the West Midlands are extremely hard-working individuals – just the kind of people that we want to employ and with several universities based here, we are pleased to see that there is a lot of future young talent to choose from.”

The Heart of England boasts 127,000 hectares of land designated as areas of outstanding natural beauty including the Peak District and the Cotswolds.  This coupled with several historic towns such as Stratford-upon-Avon and the UK’s second biggest city, Birmingham, makes it an ideal location for a family to live.

Marcus concludes:

“Setting up the business in the UK has been a big move on a personal level as well as professionally. It has meant relocating my young family from one side of the world to another which could have been difficult. The Heart of England has been a very welcoming region, making my family feel right at home.”