February 2023

John Lord Flooring, the UK’s leading specialist industrial and commercial flooring company are delighted to welcome two new apprentices to the flooring team. Natasha Brierley and Owen Sidlow joined us in January and will be working alongside our commercial flooring team gaining hands-on, practical experience with our experienced fitters.

John Edwards, Commercial Manager at John Lord commented ‘Due to the continued growth of the business, and our commitment to a fully employed workforce, we have started 2023 with a bang, taking on two new apprentices for our commercial flooring team.’

‘John Lord fitters are some of the best in the industry and understand the value of passing on those skills to the next generation. We are looking forward to helping Natasha and Owen kick-start their flooring career to reach their full potential.’

Commenting on her apprenticeship, Natasha said: ‘Being an apprentice here means gaining skills for life. The fitting team have been supportive, and I feel a great sense of pride breaking into a traditionally male-dominated industry like this.’

Owen said, ‘I’m really excited to be joining the John Lord team. I love that no day is ever the same – one day I could be working in a residential property and the next in a luxury retail building or education setting. I’m looking forward to building up my skills and moving my career on with John Lord.’

Where it all began

Managing Director Peter Robinson started Robex in 1981 working from his parents’ home. These days, Robex trades from extensive warehouse and office facilities in Hitchin, with sales engineers and resin flooring installation teams throughout the UK. In addition Robex have sold and installed their products across the world including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the Caribbean, Kenya and Ireland.

Peter Robinson shares his story:

“My first love is sport and football in particular. At 17, I was on the books of Luton Town having previously been with Millwall. Back then, Luton were in division one (the Premiership) but when they were relegated that year, I was released and joined St Albans City as a semi-professional. Following a nasty knee injury, I had to abandon my dream and found myself with no real direction. A chance opportunity with a company in North Yorkshire selling maintenance and repair products changed everything and after three successful years, I moved back to Hertfordshire and Robex was born. From my parents’ house, we moved to rented premises in Welwyn Garden City and in 1983 purchased Planned Maintenance Ltd from England Hughes and Bell in Manchester, which opened the door to manufacturing our own products. In 1989, Robex moved to our current location in Hitchin and by now, we were employing a team of sales engineers covering every corner of the UK, many of whom are still with us. Indeed, our Sales Director Alan Chamberlain joined us as a 21 year old back in 1984!

The flooring team

Robex has a dedicated team of resin flooring installers with many years’ experience who have been crucial to our story and our successes. Steven Gould, our Senior Project Manager joined shortly after Alan and Parris Robinson (Peter’s son) after military service joined in 2015. Ian Troilett and Shaun Tickle our Contract Managers, have been installing resin floors for as long as we can remember!

The future

A lot has changed since 1981 but as a group, we’ve wholeheartedly enjoyed the past 42 years.  Parris, the next generation of Robex along with Alan both have their hands firmly on the wheel and are helping to steer the business in the direction of continued success.

The whole team at Robex is committed to offering customers an outstanding level of service. Whether you are a small independent business, a multinational conglomerate, new customer or an existing one, we strive to make you happy.

Finally, a huge thank you to each and every one of our customers for your continued business and support!