Esh Group joins Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce as latest member

Esh Group is known across the North of England for its strength within construction, affordable housebuilding and civil engineering.

Here, Zoe Cowell, business development manager, lifts the lid on Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce’s newest member, as the company continues to grow its South Yorkshire portfolio.

What led Esh Group to become a Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce member?

Esh Group has been building a strong foothold in Yorkshire and continues to harness its position as one of the North of England’s largest privately-owned construction businesses. In joining the Chamber, we are aiming to work together as a force for good, by collaborating with, learning from and sharing a platform with like-minded businesses from a range of key sectors.

Tell us more about Esh.

As a contractor operating across the North East and Yorkshire, we provide civil engineering, new build affordable and private housing, refurbishment, retrofit and commercial build services to private and public sector clients.

In South Yorkshire our portfolio continues to grow – and grow at pace. From affordable housing schemes at St Michael’s Avenue in Barnsley, to Active Travel developments across Rotherham, we work closely with Councils and procurement bodies such as YORhub on projects to enhance and improve both transport and housing infrastructure.

Our Constructing Local strategy represents one of the most comprehensive social value offers in the construction industry – it’s the difference between ‘what we do’ and ‘who we are’. We have always sought to stay ahead of the curve in providing community benefits around our construction schemes and currently deliver social value through 30 bespoke programmes, some of which are award-winning.

Through the last decade we have partnered with both Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council on a number of developments. Affordable housing schemes include a £5.4 million development in the Monk Bretton area of Barnsley, known at St Michaels Avenue, where 35 homes were delivered, while in Rotherham, the Broom Hayes scheme delivered 44 new affordable homes. South Yorkshire has ambitious plans for active travel and projects including the A61 and A635 active travel scheme in Barnsley, and the Sheffield Road Cycleways and Maltby Bus Corridor in Rotherham, has seen Esh deliver dedicated walking, cycling and bus routes across the region. 

Additionally, we have forged key relationships in the area by becoming an employer academy partner with education and training provider RNN Group UK and an Investor partner with Skills Street, an immersive and innovative careers learning experience developed by Gulliver’s Valley Theme Parks and The Work-Wise Foundation, which is due to launch later this year.

What do you hope to achieve by joining the Chamber?

One huge benefit is knowledge sharing – helping businesses solve problems we may have already solved through the Construction Forum, and being connected with businesses who have successfully navigated problems we face.

The Chamber acts as an independent broker to link regional experts, with collaboration and innovation providing added key benefits. Through the Chamber, we have access to unique engagement opportunities and intimate events, access to highly influential regional business representatives and a platform to influence regional and national decision-makers.

We work with several educational and sector specific groups to better understand emerging trends and to strengthen our relationships with our supply chain and stakeholders.  We envisage our Chamber relationship to be no different. We benefit greatly when developing new programmes, adapting policies and amplifying the coverage of our social, economic and environmental programmes.

Where might our members find you?

We were delighted to exhibit at the Chamber’s Meet the Buyer event in the Spring in Barnsley and will be attending this valuable event again in 2025. Our summer programme of Meet the Buyer events has just finished, so it’s likely that our first outing since joining the Chamber will be at its Business Awards in November, where we are looking forward to hearing about the region’s successes. Esh’s Yorkshire office is based on the outskirts of Leeds close to Thorpe Park, but the team travel across the Yorkshire region to engage with businesses across the built environment sector and beyond.

Reach out to Zoe by emailing [email protected] or visit www.eshgroup.co.uk