When Craig Michel first spoke to a structural engineer about his vision for temporary shelters he was told it would never, ever work in the UK.
A decade later and the Perthshire businessman has a blue-chip client list, 18 staff and is targeting £10 million sales this year.
Craig was inspired to start Paragon Protection Systems after seeing high quality temporary shelters used in Australia.
He wanted to bring the idea to this country – but the business got off to a shaky start.
He recalls: “I sat down with a structural engineer who just looked at me and said, ‘this is never going to work in the UK, there’s too much wind and our snow loadings are too great’.
“But I could see so many applications for it. We sat down, beefed up the design and produced what is now recognized as being the strongest structure in its class out there.”
Zappshelter has survived 69 storms
After more than two years of development, Craig formed his company “on a shoestring” in 2015.
Its flagship product, the Zappshelter, is a galvanised steel structure with a special membrane cover stretched over it.
It is weighed down either by shipping containers or large precast concrete blocks and can range in width from six metres up to 20 metres.
He was delighted to find immediate interest from sectors ranging from waste management, to defence.
He said: “We’ve got some excellent customers up and down the UK. We’ve done in excess of 30 shelters on HS2.
“It provides a solution to companies for so many problems.”
The average invoice for a single structure is around £30,000. Clients include the Ministry of Defence, Kier, JCB and Google.
Craig is proud of that fact that despite there being 69 Met Office-named storms since the company started, it has not had a single structural failure.
He explains: “The structure is inherently flexible. So, when you’ve got storm conditions they actually absorb and dissipate the wind energy.
“We have spawned a bunch of competitors. They bring product in from China or try to use a structure out of the polytunnel industry. They cannot match the structural engineering we apply to our product.
“Our customers are serious companies who compare us to alternatives that are half the price and we’re still winning the orders.
“They can’t have people getting hurt or killed by a structure that collapses in a high wind.”
£10m sales aim as new offices constructed
Craig believes the company still has significant growth to come and is investing £750,000 on offices at Inchcoonans.
The company’s structures have been used all over the world, but currently exports are under 10% of its sales.
As well as its 18 staff, the company has 20 subcontractors on the installation and manufacturing side.
The owner added: “2024 was a very good year for us. We were 26% up on revenue and profits were up by 40%.
“We have a very strong pipeline going into 2025 and we’ll be aiming for an eight-digit revenue figure (more than £10m).
“There is still plenty of opportunity in the UK and we do have plans to push further afield.”
Conversation