The roots of Corgin go back to Bruce’s upbringing in South Africa and especially to the influence of his father.
He understood a remarkable range of things – chemistry, mechanics, electronics, biology, physics and geology – not just the theory but the practice. He was always doing something interesting: building electronic circuit boards, printing his own business cards, or helping refurbish a tired 1966 VW Beetle that later became Bruce’s first car.
Bruce’s first real experience of trying to build a business came through helping his father get a small chemical manufacturing business going, first while he was still at school and then part‑time after compulsory military service.
It was here that he learnt that inventing and improving products is important, but it is even more important to market and sell them.
Bruce’s second real chance came when his then boss took two of them out of his chemical wholesale business to start a second venture in odour control.
That gave Bruce another opportunity to help build a business from scratch, this time with much more commercial focus.
Bruce emigrated from South Africa, at which point the odour control business was sold – pleasingly, it is still running today.
Corgin was founded.
It began modestly: Bruce’s boss and his son were based in Newcastle‑upon‑Tyne, with a timber shed for offices and a disused pigsty for the warehouse, while Bruce was based in Stafford in a tiny repurposed flammable store.
The early days were very hands‑on. The initial focus was odour control and bio‑augmentation, and Bruce was contacting customers, assessing sites, advising on solutions, quoting, winning work, and in some cases assembling, installing and servicing equipment.
Corgin hired its first mobile odour suppression unit in response to a landfill slip caused by the Dudley earthquake.
Corgin’s Stafford office moved to ‘Bison Place’ – a portacabin at the rear of a friend’s business premises.
Corgin extended its odour control range to include an air-atomising dust suppression system, later known as the AtomisterAiro.
Colin Hutchins and Bradley Gilliland joined Corgin, bringing the Stafford team to three and improving fulfilment and administrative capability.
By then, dust suppression and aeration had been added to the offering, and Corgin performed its first Spiral Aerator installation and trial hire.
When Corgin’s owner decided to emigrate to Australia in the January, Bruce chose to buy the business despite having a mortgage, no spare cash or family wealth, and the likelihood of losing three major customers – roughly half the turnover at the time.
It was very high stakes, but Bruce had every confidence that the three of them could pull it off.
Corgin further broadened its product offering and strengthened its position in environmental compliance – especially its sweet spot of rapid response to environmental emergencies.
Corgin moved again to cope with expansion. ‘Bellasis Street’ was its first decent‑sized premises with a warehouse and storage space.
Corgin grew rapidly on the back of increasing environmental legislation, constantly adding new staff and new products.
Corgin experienced a massive growth spurt in wastewater project orders, with an 85% increase compared to 2016.
By 2019, revenue had grown 11 times in about as many years, and the business had 30 staff.
COVID was a major inflection point. It came after three years of rapid growth, heavy investment in the hire fleet, and a recent move to new Tollgate Drive premises. Corgin lost a lot of money that year, and it forced a reset.
Since then, the focus has been on building a strong leadership team, improving systems and processes, getting back to rapid‑response roots, and narrowing the offering to what adds most value to customers.
Corgin launched the MistCannon Integral 85/10000, our largest dust suppression unit yet.
Corgin celebrates 25 years, and by year end top‑line revenue will have grown around 25 times since new ownership.
Today the business is a team of 32 dedicated people, and market leaders in dust and odour suppression and aeration hire, supporting major projects including Hinkley Point C, High Speed 2 and Sizewell C.
