Barrowford firm thinking outside the box... on a bus (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Barrowford firm thinking outside the box... on a bus

12:59pm Saturday 19th December 2009 in

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A COMPANY which leads the way in state-of-the-art lighting technology has moved its team of designers out of the office – and into a double-decker bus.

The creative team at ACDC Lighting Systems will now do its work on the 20-year-old vehicle, which was bought for £1,500 but has since undergone a £45,000 makeover.

Bosses at the Barrowford firm, which last month scooped a Lancashire Telegraph business award for exporting, hope it will help staff think more innovatively and stay ahead of the field.

The bus is decked out with five desks with computers, a lab, a Nintendo Wii for free time, a drawing board in the driver’s seat and even air conditioning.

ACDC technical director Thomas Bray, who led the project, said: “We wanted to take the designers out of the office and create a space for them.The office is very formal but we want somewhere where the creative team can think.

“The bus is relaxed and we can play music or whatever people want.”

Mr Bray said the company had capacity to build more office space for the designers but he wanted to move them into the bus, which is stationed in ACDC’s car park at its Gisburn Road headquarters.

The bus, bought in the summer in Essex, joins the firm’s ‘tour bus’ on the forecourt, used by ACDC to take to trade exhibitions.

Mr Bray hopes it will help keep ACDC’s proud place at the cutting edge, ahead of larger companies.

He said: “Our designers are key. They come in with ideas and keep us as the forefront.

“We are innovative but because we are small we can adapt technology within three months, which others can’t.”

Now Mr Bray has turned his attention to the next off-the-wall idea, including possibly even buying a disused aircraft for staff to work in.

ACDC, which specialises in high-tech LED lighting, has supplied for world-famous schemes including Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai and Hong Kong’s International Wetlands Park.