Where a Trade Can Lead...

Russell Telford, managing director of A.G.Coombs talks about his career from the workshop floor to the boardroom.

The A.G. Coombs Group focuses on HVAC (heating, ventiliation and air conditioning), refrigeration, mechanical services, fire protection and multi-services installations in commercial and industrial buildings and the construction industry.

The company was founded over 60 years ago and remains privately owned. A.G. Coombs has around 50 apprenticeship placements internally and also with RTOs and other organisations to supplement their team with an additional 30 or so apprentices.

The business is split into to key areas:

• Installations (large projects) such as hospitals, shopping centres and commercial buildings where they plan and install the systems in the buildings during the construction process
• Services through maintenance teams that service previous building installations

A.G. Coombs fosters a culture that promotes career progression, ongoing training and support and many of the current management team originaly started their careers as tradespeople. Russell Telford commenced his career at A.G. Coombs as a site foreman coming from a background in plumbing. He has now been the Managing Director of A.G. Coombs for seven years. He had previously completed a mechanical plumbing apprenticeship. Many members of his family had been plumbers and owned small, family-run plumbing companies and also spent some time at a larger company before starting at A.G. Coombs.

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Building, Construction & Property Services

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