‘Our heart and soul is in Hull’: Celebrating 138 years of Arco in Local & Community History Month
Richard Martin, Director of Customer Experience at Arco. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
It’s Local and Community History Month and safety experts Arco are celebrating by looking back on the company’s eventful 138-year history. Simon Bristow spoke to Customer Experience Director Richard Martin
In 1907, when a man called Tom Martin left Glasgow for Hull to become Managing Director of a rubber manufacturing company, neither he nor the business he was joining could have known what a transformative move it would be.
Not only did he help lay the foundations for what would become one of Hull’s most successful companies, and a globally recognised “Super Brand”, Mr Martin also began a family business dynasty that, five generations later, endures to this day.
That company is Arco, experts in safety and UK leader in its field, with 1,600 employees around the UK and China and a reputation second to none.
Arco provides an extensive range of safety products and services, from basic PPE to lending its expertise in some of the most hazardous and challenging environments imaginable. These have included assisting Government in its response to the 2015 Ebola crisis, and cleaning the clock face of “Big Ben”.
It was all very different in 1884 when the company was founded as Arthur Stanley Morrison and Co in Duke Street, London. It made solid rubber products, but even then had the ability to make an impression on national life by supplying solid rubber tennis balls to Wimbledon.
IMPRESSIVE: Arco’s new office and collaborative workspace in Blackfriargate, Hull, which opened last year as part of a £15m investment in the company’s infrastructure
Mr Morrison was one of three directors of Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Company, and all three directors started the business.
But it wasn’t long before the company looked for a more favourable location, settling in the city with which it would become synonymous.
“The business struggled in London and identified Hull as a good place to move to because the shipping and industrial opportunities in Hull were greater than in London,” said Richard Martin, Director of Customer Experience at Arco, and a member of the fourth generation of Martins to work in the business.
The company relocated to Hull in 1890 and in 1898 changed its name to Asbestos & Rubber Company Ltd.
“It’s fair to say the business wasn’t performing particularly well during the early 1900s until they brought in Tom Martin the first in 1907,” said Richard. “He was a manager in Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Company based in Glasgow and they brought him down to take over as Managing Director of the industrial side of the business.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: The company’s first premises in Duke Street, London, in 1884. Picture supplied by Arco
“That really started Arco and the Martin family involvement, and especially the success of the industrial side of the business, because it hadn’t been performing well.
“At the same time, the three original directors weren’t really that interested in the industrial side; what they wanted was an outlet for their sports goods. They opened a shop in Hull’s King Edward Street in the early 1900s – our first sports shop.”
Prior to that the Arco office was in Queen Street – “just around the corner from where we are now”, said Richard, speaking in the gleaming, purpose-built new Arco office and collaborative workspace in Blackfriargate, where it moved last year. “It feels like we are coming home.”
With the opening of the sports shop in King Edward Street, the company closed its Queen Street office and moved everything there, with the sports and industrial arms both operating out of King Edward Street.
After the first Tom Martin began making a success of the industrial side, the family’s influence and involvement grew.
VAST: Arco’s National Distribution Centre in Priory Park. Picture supplied by Arco
Richard said: “Glasgow was where my grandfather, Tom Martin the second was born, and he joined the company in 1923. He had also worked for Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Company. From then on we grew quite rapidly.”
Circumstance then provided one of those rare moments of opportunity, which the company was not going to pass up.
Richard said: “In 1924, we had the opportunity to buy 50 tonnes of hose from the BF Goodrich Company because they were installing a new production line. Unfortunately, that new production line, they couldn’t make it work and they wanted their 50 tonnes of rubber back, so we sold it back at a massive profit, and we used that to create our first dedicated office and warehouse, in Waterhouse Lane.
“We moved the industrial side of the business there and left the shop where it was.”
Tom Martin the second started the asbestos side of the business, and set up a contracts division in 1930.
‘IT FEELS LIKE COMING HOME’: Richard Martin at Arco’s new Blackfriargate office, just around the corner from where the company’s first Hull office was opened in Queen Street. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
Like much of Hull, the company did not escape the devastation of Second World War bombing raids, and one attack in 1941 caused administrative as well as physical devastation. The King Edward Street shop was destroyed, and all the business records prior to that event went with it.
Other companies, however, stood by them in their hour of need.
Richard said: “We had no record of anything - our purchases ledger and our sales ledger – we didn’t know what customers owed what. We had to go around every customer and ask what they owed us. We don’t believe we lost anything, but they were challenging times.”
The sports shop was rebuilt on Jameson Street in 1955.
In 1959 Tom Martin the third, Richard’s uncle, joined the business, and two years later it built its offices in Waverley Street, moving the industrial operation there from Waterhouse Lane. The company continued to be based in Waverley Street until its move to Blackfriargate.
Tom Martin the third, who joined the company in 1959 aged 23. Picture supplied by Arco
In 1964, Richard’s father Stephen Martin joined the business.
Three years later the company made its first acquisition of Budgen & Hare industrial suppliers in Teesside. “That was the start of a really rapid period of growth around the country over the next 20 to 30 years,” said Richard, of the development of what would be the Arco branch network.
In 1968, Tom Martin the third and Stephen Martin became joint managing directors, which marked the start of another period of rapid growth.
Around the same time the company began to focus on workwear safety and PPE became much more prominent, with the business moving towards that and away from its industrial side.
“Prior to that we weren’t a safety business, we were a rubber and asbestos business,” Richard said. “In the late 1960s and early 70s we really started to build our safety business. The business as people know it now really grew through the late 60s and 70s, through the 80s and 90s, and became the business we are now.”
DEVASTATION: The ruins of the King Edward Street shop after it was bombed during the Second World War in 1941. All the company records were lost. Picture supplied by Arco
In 1980 the company officially changed its name to Arco.
Thomas Martin the fourth joined in 1988 and is now chairman.
Richard joined Arco straight from university in 1995, working out of Arco Wessex in Chandlers Ford near Southampton. He was initially a sales administrator, moving to field sales in 1996, and then into supply chain in 1997.
“Just because you’re a Martin you don’t get dropped in at the top,” Richard said. “You have to show you have the skill-set and the passion for the business.”
In 1999, he led the search for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to support Arco’s growth ambitions, which resulted in the business selecting SAP as its strategic IT partner. For the next five years, Richard was responsible for the teams which developed and implemented the SAP solution, including Human Resources, Finance, Sales and Distribution and Materials Management.
Stephen Martin, Richard’s father, who joined in 1965. Picture supplied by Arco
In 2000 – the year Richard’s sister Jo Martin joined - the company opened its National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Priory Park. It was expanded in 2006 to 200,000 sqft.
In 2002, Thomas Martin and Jo Martin became joint managing directors. The Arco Charity Committee was set up by Jo Martin in 2003.
That year also saw the launch of the Arco Clothing Centre in Preston, where it carries out bespoke work including embroidery, heat-seal and branding.
In 2005, the company opened a sourcing office in Xiamen, China, to ensure quality and ethics in its supply chain, to audit manufacturing plants, and to help with specification of its own brand products. It was by then manufacturing in China and the Far East.
“This was when we really started to understand our core purpose, which is keeping people safe at work,” Richard said.
MID-AIR: Arco are experts in working at height. Picture supplied by Arco
In 2008, the family suffered tragedy when Jo Martin died from breast cancer. The Jo Martin Cancer Care Trust was set up in her memory.
Nick Hildyard became joint MD with Thomas Martin.
In 2009, Arco bought its first training and consultancy business, ARC Associates Ltd. “Now we very much provide the full package in terms of not just products but also training services,” Richard said.
“We had the contract to clean the face of Big Ben, and we do a lot of work for things like museums, cleaning and maintaining things that are difficult to access, particularly working at height or in confined spaces, that’s what we specialise in.”
MUCH MISSED: Jo Martin, a former Joint Managing Director of Arco, who died in 2008. Picture supplied by Arco
In 2014, Arco built a laboratory at its NDC, where it tests all its products against British and European standards in a SATRA-accredited programme. This includes toe cap compression testing, footwear slip resistance, ballistic testing of eyewear – firing metal pieces at them to check they don’t break - testing the fire-retardance of garments, abrasion testing, and chemical testing.
It also includes wash testing of high vis – checking how long they keep the correct luminescence.
Formal global recognition of Arco’s excellence and stature came in 2016 when it entered the top 100 Super Brands alongside household names including Coca Cola, Amazon, and Microsoft.
But for all its corporate success, Arco is equally proud of its community work and investment, particularly in the city it calls home.
It was “massively involved” in Hull’s year as UK City of Culture in 2017, supplying all the uniforms for the volunteers among its wide support for the programme, which reached £500,000 of spending in total.
RECENT HISTORY: Arco’s former head office in Waverley Street. Picture supplied by Arco
That year, the company opened a digital office next to C4DI in Humber Street, which was brought into Blackfriargate in 2021 as part of a £15m investment in the business’s infrastructure.
A total of £70m has been invested over the last five years, which included doubling the size of the distribution centre again.
City leaders were delighted when Arco reaffirmed its commitment to Hull by relocating to Blackfriargate, but Richard said the decision to stay in the city was “simple”.
“We are a Hull business, our employer brand in Hull is very strong, and it made no sense whatsoever to move away from Hull,” he said.
“It was the easiest decision we’ve ever had to make. When we saw Waverley Street was required for the roadworks we never even discussed going out of Hull, and we want to continue our legacy in Hull.”
LOOKING AHEAD: Richard Martin at work in Blackfriargate. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
He added: “I think what we’ve done here is build something that reflects what all businesses need to do, which is think in a more modern way, and particularly after Covid. This gives us that kind of fast-thinking culture. It’s a place where we can attract new talent, which we struggled to do at Waverley Street.
“Now we collaborate with businesses at C4DI; it promotes that culture of we are a fast-thinking business, we are moving quickly with the times.”
The company has 900 staff in Hull, which Richard describes as “very much a two-way relationship”.
He said: “We wouldn’t be where we are without the people of Hull supporting us. We put a lot into the community here, but we get a lot out of the people.
Thomas Martin, who joined in 1988. He is now Chairman. Picture supplied by Arco
“We are a local business; they have made us what we are. We also have 600 colleagues around the country – there’s a balance, we don’t just invest in Hull. We get our value from all 1,600 people around the UK and China. But clearly our heart and soul is in Hull.”
As for Richard personally, he decided on an unusual career break in 2004 – becoming a commercial airline pilot – after feeling “burnt out” by the previous five years.
He had only taken a lesson to see if he could overcome his fear of flying.
This in turn led to flying private jets for Premier League football teams and music stars including Tom Jones and Coldplay.
But the pull of Arco for a member of the Martin family is strong.
STANDARDS: Abrasion testing of gloves in the Arco laboratory. Picture supplied by Arco
Richard said: “By about 2013 I think I’d had enough. I’d seen everything I wanted to see and felt a real pull back to the business, particularly after my sister died in 2008. From then it was always a case of when I would come back rather than if. I re-joined in 2014 and went on the board in 2015.”
Richard took up the role of Customer Experience Director in 2020, with the aim of making the business experience for customers effortless and enjoyable.
The story of Arco is also a family story, with each shaping the other. It is both proud of its past and focused on the future, always looking to innovate and remaining remarkably agile for a company of its size.
‘OUR FAMILY ETHOS AROUND THE BUSINESS IS STRONG’: Richard Martin, a fourth generation Martin, being interviewed by The Hull Story. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
Tom Martin the first would no doubt be proud of the Arco of 2022. The company that looks after others is still in safe hands.
Richard said: “Our family ethos around the business is very strong. We work on the basis that if you look after your people they will look after your business for you.
“I grew up with my father in the business and I think I pretty much learned through seeing him doing it, and then coming into the business and working my way up. The family involvement from 1907 onwards has made this business what it is, along with the hundreds of people who have worked for us.”