We caught up with James Henderson, Managing Director of UK Teleport, to understand a bit more about the business and why sponsoring the Awards, was something he felt passionate about.

Who or what is UK Teleport?

In layman’s terms, UK Teleport are a UK-wide logistics company that specialise in the safe movement of Telecoms equipment. Our management team has over 40 years of experience designing, building and upgrading telecoms sites, and we deliver telecoms equipment for all the UK operators and their principal contractors.

For those of you who are familiar with the world of telecoms – we also offer a wide range of services to support the installation, upgrade and/or decommissioning of mobile telecoms sites.

Take a look at the UK Teleport pages here, or head to our website to see our full scope of services, and to get the real measure of what we do, take a look at the images on our Instagram and LinkedIn pages.

Where did the idea for UK Teleport come from?

I was involved in the project to build and launch the first 3G mobile phone network for Hutchison 3G (as they were known), now branded as 3. I was getting increasingly frustrated about the amount of time and money that was being wasted on repeatedly hiring temporary trackway to cross farmers’ fields. The trackway was often in situ for many weeks or months, to protect the land so that equipment could be transported to the site, without churning up a farmer’s field and ruining crops.

I decided to investigate alternative ways of delivering equipment without the need for trackway. The benefits of doing so would mean:

• The build schedule could be much more flexible
• Lead times could be significantly reduced as there were fewer obstacles to agree with the farmer and less equipment needed to be available to complete the build phase
• Significant cost savings

And so, the idea of specialist off-road equipment deliveries was born.

The business has expanded rapidly in size and scope and now a large portion of work, actually comes from delivering equipment onto rooftops in city centres. Sometimes it needs hauling into a church steeple, or onto the highest rooftops in London. From tiny roof hatches to awkward eaves, it’s our job to use our expertise to its fullest to make sure we get the equipment to where it needs to be, safely. No other company does what we do, with such a razor-sharp focus on health and safety as well as customer service.

What’s the best bit about working for UK Teleport?

The best bit about working for Teleport for me, is finding innovative ways of doing things.

I love a challenge and it’s very rare that I can’t find a safe, yet quick and/or cost-effective way of getting equipment where it needs to be safely. I’m always looking for the next new way of doing things, or the next vehicle I can buy or modify to allow us to offer greater and improved service.

I’m a farmer’s son, and a great lover of machinery. I love off-roading – which is essentially how the business came about in the first place. The 4×4 vehicles we use really get pushed to the limit and we haven’t yet found a job we can’t do. There’s a huge variety in our work and we get to see so much of the UK, from the best views from London rooftops, or incredible scenery from a remote hilltop.

Where next for UK Teleport?

I grew up in the heart of Cheshire, where farming has as big a part to play as it does here in the North of the Cotswolds. I learnt from an early age how important it is for people to work together, and be able to rely on, and support each other.

Although we are a nationwide business, I live locally with my family. My children go to school and nursery in the area, my wife also works in Campden and the Teleport offices are based on the Campden High Street. I simply want to do what I can to support my local community.

For me that means pitching in and getting involved where we can. Obviously, there’s not much call from local businesses to transport telecoms equipment, so other than visiting local shops and restaurants, my only real business links nearby (currently), are companies that provide our vehicle maintenance services for the company’s fleet – thank you BP Autos!

Supporting the awards is an obvious way for us to get involved in the community and meet with other local businessmen and women outside of the ‘usual’ setting.

Why did UK Teleport decide to sponsor the Awards, and the refreshments in particular?

To be completely honest, we came a bit late to the party, so all the Award categories had already gone. It was important for me that we got involved in whatever way we could, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a drink?!

There’s a lot of effort that goes into creating such a wonderful event, and I wanted Teleport to offer up some support in doing that; both physically in the lead up to the event by supporting the Awards team, and also financially.

So, we figured why not treat everyone to a glass of something to get the evening started, and hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to say hello to a few people as they pass through to take their seats.

Nominations are now open, so don’t forget to get voting now!