From race track to solar success

The crossovers between the sign industry and the print industry are more common than you might think, often with those who work in one area ending up moving over to the other area at a later date. This is true for Paul Edwards, works director of City and County Graphics, who has not only had his time in print but also in design.

“I started in a large-format print company called John E Wright as an apprentice many moons ago,” explains Edwards, adding: “From there I went into publishing at a local paper on the design side and I moved from there to a magazine as a graphic designer. Then came City and County as a graphic designer about seven years ago.”

With a wealth of design experience, it is not surprising that Edwards made the jump to a signage company that has its origins in creative design. City and County Graphics started life as a motor sport graphic company and it was not until managing director, Malcolm Dunderdale, met someone out on the race track who worked in the housing industry that the company changed its focus and started doing hoarding graphics.

Edwards says the work ‘snowballed from there’, though it has not always been plain sailing: “We went through a bit of time during the recession when houses weren’t being built but now we probably concentrate mainly on the housing development side; 80 percent of what we do is housing.”

An investment in a new Canon Océ Arizona 6170 XTS has allowed City and County Graphics to speed up their whole production process with Edwards revealing: “We’re printing a hoarding panel at three minutes 20 seconds rather than ten minutes.”



Eco-benefits

An increasing area of focus for the company is environmentally-friendly sign solutions, especially solar powered signs—a customer demand that Edwards has seen for some time. He says: “Ever since I joined, I’ve always been asked to do a solar powered sign and I’d have to ring around the LED suppliers every time it pops up each year.

“We have now found a very good supplier for the solar work. We know the potential for it and are really trying to push it. It makes sense, there’s so many reasons why you should go solar powered.”

Edwards points out the benefits of solar signage, including the fact that only daylight is needed rather than direct sunlight: “It is simple to install with no mains electricity required and no costly cable installation. Integrated components provide backlit illumination to signs or hoarding, there are zero operating costs and it is virtually maintenance free.” The company so far has been asked mainly to install environmentally-friendly monoliths at two and a half metres high.

Another project that stands out to Edwards is for Royal Wharf, a development of around 3,400 homes in East London. Signage for the project included around 600 hoarding panels with halo illuminated built up logos, full height lightboxes, window vinyls, and flags. Also, two sets of Royal Wharf three-metre high lettering were applied to the wooden building slats with a high tac vinyl.



New avenues

Service is a big part of City and County Graphics’ ethos. Edwards explains: “We seem to pick up a lot of work off of other companies who say ‘we can’t do it’ and we say ‘yes’, which may be shooting ourselves in the foot at times. We have a really high standard of work and a high drive on the quality. Even though we work for house builders, we’re doing more bespoke sites which comes with its own bespoke signage each time. We’re definitely more quality driven than quantity.”



The company’s growth is clear through the fact that it has doubled its team over the last two years. “We also have new production facilities on the horizon, though finding one is not turning out to be easy,” adds Edwards.



What is also clear is that City and County Graphics is keen to diversify, a move that can see businesses really boost their offering. Edwards says: “We are really trying to push new avenues of work other than house building.

We are always trying to push new developments such as solar signage and augmented reality; we try to stay ahead.


“We are looking at digital signage too and although we haven’t taken the jump yet, I think it’s the next thing for us. We are also looking at moving into more POS work because we have the capacity to run it with the printer being so quick.” The company is looking at purchasing a Zünd or a Kongsberg to speed up its turnaround of such POS work.


With plans to open up new markets such as augmented reality, digital signage, POS work, and continually develop their portfolio of environmentally-friendly signage, City and County Graphics certainly seems to be part of a new trend that is sweeping the sign and graphics industry. And that is namely that larger sign-makers today need, more than ever, to be jacks of all trades and masters of everything. Of course this is a double edged sword if you spread yourself too thinly, too quickly, but a process of carefully managed product diversification seems to have worked well for City and County.

With that in mind, Edward’s conclusion perhaps best sums up why his firm is certainly ahead of the curve: “Our mission will be to develop our products and services portfolio in addition to our work in the house building sector.

We have always had a ‘no fail’ policy for our work and extending that ethos into every avenue we cater for, be it solar-powered, digital, or augmented reality signage, will continue to see us right.”

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