Rapra moves membership unit

ERJ staff report (DR)

Shrewsbury, UK - Rapra Ltd, the UK's rubber and plastics research association, has moved its three-person membership-services unit to offices in Telford, about 10 miles (17.5km) from its home of the last 56 years in Shawbury, just outside Shrewsbury in the northwest of England.

Smithers Rapra and iSmithers - owned since 2006 by The Smithers Group, an independent testing and consultancy organisation based in Akron, Ohio - will remain in Shawbury, operating as an Approved Services Provider to Rapra's members, explained Richard Walton, executive director for the unit, in a 27 Oct Email clarifying the move. They will continue to conduct their technical, information and business activities from the site, he added.

Rapra Ltd, a separate legal entity, will manage all membership-related activities, and will now aim to provide a wider range of services to members by engaging with many more Approved Service Providers, Walton explained. These are already coming on stream and will either be geographically separated, or differ in their core product and service offerings from those of Smithers rapra, he added.

Walton, along with operations director, global, Steve Shaw, and a soon-to-be-appointed financial controller, will occupy two offices at the Telford site with high-speed broadband Internet and other facilities. Part of the largest office will be offered to Rapra members as a working space when they are on business in the Midlands, as the Telford location offers good transport access and accommodation, Walton added.

"Together with our colleagues in North America and China, we will continue to provide members with access to the world's leading technical, information and other business services, via existing and new Approved Service Providers," Walton said.

"The change is intended to remove the considerable confusion within the membership about the status of the two organisations that has existed for the last few years," he continued. "All possible measures will be taken to protect the excellent working relationships with the staff at Shawbury, while at the same time allowing new beneficial relationships to be forged with a number of new providers," Walton concluded.

The new address is: RAPRA Ltd, 5th Floor, Plaza Two, Telford Plaza, Ironmasters Way, Telford TF3 4NT. Tel: +44 (0)1952 458463 and fax: +44 (0)1952 219960.

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Press release from Rapra