As you probably already know, there’s always something happening here at Dura, whether that’s a new product, an invention, or in this case, a new department! As such, we’re excited to introduce our new Client Success Team. Between them, Ant, Dean, Matthew, Richard, Tony and Jack have a combined 80 years’ experience in composites, and they’ll be helping us to make sure that all of your infrastructure challenges benefit from our award-winning d² product range.
We’ll be introducing you to each member of the Client Success Team, starting with the man heading it up, Antony Theobald!
Ant first joined the Dura team back in 2008, and is now our Client Success Manager.
Ant, give us an overview of your career in composites
Following a degree in building surveying, I joined Dura Composites in 2008 and have worked in the GRP industry ever since. Whilst I started out specialising in the marine sector, I then spent time working with GRP in the industrial, construction and rail sectors, as well as providing decking and cladding for high rise buildings, which has given me a good overview of the industry.
Your career has taken you across different sectors and different providers – what drew you back to Dura?
Over the years it became clear that Dura was really leading the way in the industry, in a number of areas, from innovation and quality, to simply just the standards it upholds. Not all composite materials are produced with the same level of quality and attention to detail. On closer inspection, you’ll often find that other manufacturers rely on standard shared data tables for products they haven’t ever examined or tested themselves. However, at Dura, we consistently maintain the highest standards, ensuring every performance aspect is thoroughly examined and considered. The vast majority of our products are both unique and patented, meticulously design-engineered by us to meet the precise requirements we know, (from experience), that our clients need.
Despite Dura’s growth – and that growth has been considerable compared to when I first joined! – the company has retained its friendly, family feel. There have been a lot of changes, but they’re all good changes, and I think that’s quite rare.
Another thing that has impressed me is the strides Dura is making in sustainability. Working with large clients, especially in the construction and water treatment sectors, carbon credentials are becoming so important; it won’t be long before projects simply can’t go ahead without proving their carbon targets, and Dura is massively ahead of the game in this area.
Tell us about your role
I head up the Client Success Team, and our aim is to spend more time face-to-face with both new and existing customers. I love meeting people and seeing jobs in person, first-hand. It’s much harder to truly understand a project and what’s needed for it when looking at a drawing, so I’m looking forward to helping more people solve their infrastructure challenges with composites.
We’re all keen to make the CST team a huge success, becoming the face of the company, while adding value to customer projects and creating strategic partners across all sectors.
What projects are you most excited about at the moment?
We recently designed and supplied 30 access structures for Dinorwig Power station in Wales for our client Hitachi Energy as their GRP fabrication partner. We’ve been working with them for four or five years now, and it’s these long-term relationships that excite me. So far, this project has saved around 24 tonnes of embodied carbon, and we’ve got plans to support them with GRP trench covers next.
Outside of work I…
Can usually be found spending time with my wife and children. My daughter has just started school and is really into swimming and ballet, whilst my son’s a keen footballer. I also enjoy a bit of roller hockey in my spare time.
