Radius Group combines specialist engineering and advanced technologies to meet the evolving demands of critical infrastructure markets
Radius Group is an international portfolio of manufacturing, engineering, and infrastructure businesses supporting critical water, gas, energy, telecommunications, and power networks. What makes the group distinctive is its ability to combine the efficiency of manufacturing at scale with specialist engineering, advanced materials, and lifecycle infrastructure services. This breadth allows it to meet varied customer requirements while increasingly connecting technical expertise, operational standards, and best practice across its businesses. Graham Thurlow, Group Director of Operations, tells us more about what that looks like in practice.
“Our capabilities span pipeline systems for water, wastewater, gas and drainage; flow control, and valve technologies, as well as telecommunications and power infrastructure products. We also offer pipeline engineering and rehabilitation services, district heating and energy systems, and specialist pipe solutions for demanding industrial applications. With manufacturing operations across the UK, Europe, and China, we combine expertise in extrusion, injection molding, mechanical engineering, fabrication, assembly, testing, and multi-material systems,” he opens.
The businesses within the group, which include Radius Systems, Aeon, Radius CTS, Radius Subterra, RK Infra, Fibron, and Evopipes, operate in distinct but closely related market environments, applying a wide range of production technologies. Some run high-volume extrusion and injection molding lines while others focus on precision engineering, specialist fabrication, assembly, and field services. Despite operational differences, all Radius Group businesses are united by the same focus on safety, quality, process control, continuous improvement, manufacturing efficiency, sustainability, and technical excellence. It is that common foundation that creates the opportunity to collaborate across the group, share knowledge, and accelerate innovation where manufacturing and engineering challenges intersect.
Advanced manufacturing sits at the core of how each business delivers for its customers, and the approach varies depending on what each market demands. Some operations are highly-output, automated production environments, incorporating multilayer extrusion, injection molding, in-line process monitoring, and machine vision inspection systems. Others are more specialist in nature, centered on advanced materials, precision processing, assembly testing, fabrication, and welding. “Rather than applying a single manufacturing model across the group, we align technology, engineering expertise, and operational processes to the specific requirements of each market. Across all businesses, the objective is to enhance quality, productivity, flexibility, safety, and customer responsiveness,” Graham notes.
That diversity can be seen across the group. At Radius Systems, the expansion of the Puriton barrier pipe range into larger diameters demonstrates the ability to industrialize complex, multilayer infrastructure products at scale. Fibron represents a very different manufacturing model, combining advanced composite materials with precision manufacturing and sophisticated process control for highly specialized energy applications. Meanwhile, the significant expansion of Evopipes’ Latvian manufacturing operation over the past four years has developed substantial pipe production, fabrication, and molding capability to support growth in its regional markets.
Digitalization is playing an increasingly important role in achieving those objectives. Across the group’s manufacturing operations, digital tools are being embedded into quality control, traceability, and process monitoring. “Some of our more advanced production environments utilize sophisticated in-line monitoring, machine vision, and automated quality systems to improve process consistency and product performance. Our specialist manufacturing operations also leverage precision process monitoring and testing technologies to maintain high-quality standards.
“As our data capabilities expand, there are growing opportunities to apply analytics, machine vision, and AI to identify variation earlier, deepen process understanding, and enhance operational performance in ways that were not previously possible. The overarching objective is to use technology to achieve greater control, quality, efficiency, and reliability across manufacturing processes,” Graham informs.
Nonetheless, people remain just as important as the technology that supports them, and retaining experienced talent in a challenging labor market is something the group takes seriously. Graham talks us through Radius Group’s approach to recruitment, development, and employee engagement. “The longevity of our staff reflects the fact that we invest a lot into the development of our people. That means training and development at every level, whether that is legislative compliance or preparing someone to take the next step into management or senior positions. Most of our vacancies and new opportunities will be advertised internally and externally, but we generally look internally first to see if we can develop the talent already within the organization or if an employee is ready to move into a different position before looking outward,” he shares.
One of the areas the group is planning for is succession and knowledge transfer. As experienced employees approach retirement, Radius is focused on retaining specialist knowledge and developing the new generation of technical capability. “We plan for that well in advance. In most cases, if not all, we try to have a contingent approach for people who are approaching retirement age. We aim to have a succession or handover process in place long before the moment they retire arrives, whether that means recruiting into the role early enough to allow a proper transition, or identifying where we have knowledge concentrated in a single person and taking deliberate steps to transfer it more widely. Getting that knowledge out of someone’s head and into a format that can be shared and built upon is an important part of making sure skills are not lost. At the same time, particularly in engineering and technical functions where the skills can be difficult to recruit, we are constantly asking ourselves how we can do things differently. We strive to optimize our approach whether that is through automation, the adoption of AI, or other means that help us build greater resilience into operations. It is very much an open-minded approach, and one that places us in a good position for where we need to be in five or ten years,” he concludes.
“The markets we serve are being transformed,” Graham says. “Water resilience, the energy transition, digital connectivity, and the renewal of ageing infrastructure are accelerating demand for smarter, more dependable solutions. At the same time, customers are placing greater emphasis on secure supply chains, local manufacturing capability, and long-term performance. Our strength lies in the breadth of the group: we can bring together manufacturing at scale, specialist engineering, and market-led agility to respond with the right solution, in the right place, at the right time.”
By combining that breadth of capability with sustained investment in people, technology, and innovation, Radius Group is helping to shape the future of critical infrastructure while delivering greater resilience and lasting value for customers and communities worldwide.
www.radius-groupholdings.com
www.radius-systems.com
www.aeonvalves.com
www.radius-cts.com
evopipes.com
www.fibronpipe.com
www.rkinfra.com
www.radius-subterra.com
