UK security firm starts Richmond office

A rapidly growing security firm based in Nottingham, U.K., has opened an office in Richmond.

Octavian has also established its U.S. headquarters in suburban Philadelphia with another office in Tulsa, Okla., and hired Richmond resident Gregg Strangways as president of the U.S. offices.

Strangways has an MBA from the University of Richmond and was formerly division manager for MTI Global, a Canadian aerospace product company with an office at the Chesterfield Airport.

But now he is charged with developing the U.S. arm of the security company, which was named the 27th fastest growing in Britain by the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 League.

Strangways said the company will hire guards on a job-by-job basis, but he said he hopes to have as many as 600 trained security guards working for Octavian within two years.

“We like to focus on helping out people coming out of the military and armed services, hopefully providing them with jobs,” Strangways said. “Hopefully [we’ll] get young kids that are well-trained and reliable, and we want to put them to work.”

Strangways said the Richmond office, which is located at Paragon Place at Glenside and Broad streets in Henrico County, will employ five to 10 staffers. Strangways said he is looking for a local sales manager.

The company will be ready to do business in about two weeks, Strangways said.

“For Richmond we’ll be looking at government, other large security venues such as sports,” said Strangways. “I can see us vying for the new AA baseball team coming in or the SportsQuest complex. Those sort of things are in our niche.”

Strangways said the costs vary widely depending on the size and type of the customer and whether the guards are armed or unarmed, but range from $10 to $45 an hour per guard.

Octavian CEO Sukhi Ghuman started looking in Richmond because it is an economic sister city with Nottingham, and also because it is located between Washington and Norfolk, Strangways said.

Al Harris is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.