Cosy welcomes first VIP to new £2m HQ

Ethical educational supplies firm Cosy has welcomed its first VIP guest to its new £2 million headquarters.

Burton MP Kate Griffiths recently visited the firm’s Tutbury base to find out how children’s learning equipment made in the heart of the Midlands is bringing outdoor fun for youngsters all over the world.

Established a decade ago, Cosy, which recently moved from Derby to its 45,000 sq ft HQ, in Fauld Lane, is pioneering a new way to do business in the multi-million-pound school play equipment industry by creating products that encourage outdoor and open-ended, imaginative fun.

Hundreds of items within its product range, which numbers around 4,000 and include wooden shelters, reading dens and mud pie making equipment, have been designed by teachers themselves.

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The vast majority are made by independent suppliers using recycled and upcycled materials such as pallets and repurposed used car tyres.

Cosy, which employs 100 people, supplies primary schools and nurseries across the UK.

It is now embarking on an ambitious export drive that is already seeing its products shipped out to New Zealand, Australia, China and across Europe.

During her visit, Ms Griffiths, who met with the company’s chief executive Peter Ellse, his wife Amanda and its managing director Nick Walker, also heard about how Cosy gives 10% of its profits every year to around 80 charities and good causes both locally and globally every year.

Ms Griffiths said: “I know that my three-year-old daughter would love to spend an afternoon playing with all the fun equipment at Cosy – and even as a grown-up it’s easy to be impressed by Peter and his team’s commitment to making children’s play times healthy and fun.

“It’s extremely heartening to hear about how Cosy is committed to joining the thousands of British companies who export their goods and services every year and are finding new markets for their play equipment all over the world.”

Peter said: “We’re very proud of what we do here at Cosy and we are very grateful to Ms Griffiths for taking time out to learn about all the things we are trying to do.

“We are proving that it is possible to run a successful business that is sustainable, environmentally low impact and community-minded while meeting the needs of the most important people in the world – children.

“It was a wrench for everyone here to leave Derby but we’re happy to be out here in the countryside and we can’t wait to put in place all the very many plans that we have for our new factory.”