Gardners NW, then part of the troubled PFI Group, was shuttered towards the end of last year.
It has now emerged that OOH specialist Titchfield Group subsequently acquired the firm’s printing kit and other assets, and has taken on a new lease at the 6,225sqm Cardiff facility.
The new business is trading as Titchfield Media.
Adrian Hallett, who worked at Gardners for 12-and-a-half years under its previous owners, has returned as managing director with 29 other former employees also joining the fresh team.
Titchfield Group has a small amount of printing capacity in-house, but the Cardiff site is set to become the group’s print hub and boost its vertically integrated offering.
Titchfield Group founder Nigel Brunt commented: “The former team from Gardners are now perfectly positioned to deploy their accumulated experience of over 650 years of industry knowledge and their unrivalled technical resources.”
He said the focus was on the groups expertise in in “fast-growing and profitable sectors of the print market”, out of home, premium retail and events.
“This is an exciting development, not just for Titchfield Group and the print and OOH industries but the wider economy of this part of Wales.”
The extensive plant list acquired makes Titchfield Media one of the biggest superwide production sites in the country. It includes four 5m-wide printers: two Durst Rho 512r devices, a 5m-wide EFI Matan 8Q, and an HP 5100.
A further eight devices from HP, Durst and EFI range in size from 1.6m to 3.5m.
The plant list also includes extensive finishing kit including cutting, welding and sewing.
Hallett told Printweek: “Gardners wasn’t insolvent, it was just a victim of bad management.
“Getting the call from Nigel about this new venture, after everything that happened last year, was fantastic. There’s a lot of synergies with the Titchfield Group, which is great. It’s all going really well for a brand new company.”
He said that top quality print was more important than ever for a number of key client groups.
“Here in Cardiff we have the people skills and kit to provide this at competitive prices. Now with the backing and support of Nigel and his team at Titchfield Group we have the financial stability to make a real and lasting impact in the marketplace.”
Titchfield Group has its headquarters in Cuffley and another site in Morecambe. Its services include OOH advertising, construction and fabrication.
