Banner Holdings moves staff to Midlands after explosion near Hertfordshire offices
Construction and facilities management company Banner Holdings has temporarily quit its Hemel Hempstead office following the explosion of the nearby Bunsfield fuel depot.
The firm relocated its staff from the Hertfordshire site to its office in Rugby on Wednesday. It has extra office space on teh site reserved for emergencies. Others are working from home.
Joint managing director Peter Elson said the firm's landlord was assessing the damage and would repair the office but the work might not be complete for three months. The windows, doors and door frames were blown out by the blast and a small amount of internal masonry fell from the ceiling. However all workstations were intact.
He said the explosion had not had a negative impact on the firm's business. He said: "The business continuity plan has worked well. Our business-critical paperwork and data is there, the servers are running and the staff are there so our clients are getting an identical service to the one they received before."
The news follows the decision of contractor Sir Robert McAlpine to abandon its headquarters. Its staff will work from home or other offices while representatives of the firm meet police to discuss returning.
