Flames swept through Impamark’s office from a neighbouring building on 24 January, with 10 fire crews from Essex County Fire and Rescue called out to extingish the blaze, and relief crews monitoring the scene overnight.
There were no reported injuries.
For now, Impamark has reconvened around the kitchen table of a friend, currently away from home, trying to make the best of a bad situation, according to Nicky Crisp, the firm’s managing director.
“We’re trying to remain positive,” she told Printweek.
“We’ve received the most overwhelming support from local people, our client base, suppliers and even competitors within the industry.
“We’ve been around a very long time, 55 years. Last September, we had a big event in our offices to commemorate the anniversary: it was lovely, and we have photos of it all – but the office is completely burned to the ground now.”
Crisp has already arranged new offices to be cleared and set up on the farm’s industrial estate near Burnham-on-Crouch, and has been busy taking orders to arrange with the firm’s network of trade printers.
“We need to ensure that there’s still confidence in the company, and that people still think they can work with us. The last thing we want is for people to think that it’s gone. It couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.
Fortunately, Crisp said, the company held no client stock on site, so direct damage was limited to the company’s own assets – itself a heavy enough blow, according to Crisp.
“We’d been in those offices for 18 and a half years. They were purpose-designed for us. It’s really sad to see everything go, all the history of the company,” she added.
“We had our very first gold blocking machine that my mother used 50-odd years ago in there, and all our certificates and awards from over the years. We won’t ever get those back.”
Despite the circumstances, Crisp said she was remaining positive, with sympathetic messages and orders flying in since the fire.
“The support has been overwhelming, and I think we’re just hanging on to that,” she said.
“We know there might be some dark days ahead, but we’re just trying to remain positive and optimistic for the future.”
