Nathan Gait’s Pentagon Story

Nathan Gait, our Production Operations Manager, has worked for Pentagon Play for 13 years. During this time, he has seen lots of change over the years. As part of our Pentagon People’s Stories, we want to share our teams stories and how they’ve contributed to the growth of Pentagon Play throughout years.

Here are Nathan’s thoughts…

“On my first day I went to a school in Macclesfield with some of my tools and just had a go at installing, there were no instructions, just drawings on scraps of paper. Mike, our Managing Director, thought I was some kind of genius because I managed to extend some hose pipes with a length of copper tube that I randomly had in my toolbox.

I worked away a lot when I first joined but working away was as far as Chester (40 miles) at that time. I’ll never live down the time Carl Wolstenholme, then Installer, now Workshop Supervisor, and I had a truck stolen from a playground we were working on (I still blame Carl to this day!).

The truck was driven out of the gates and dumped in a lake after pulling out in front of and chased by an undercover police car. I was so thankful to have kept my job, even though I still owe £999,999 from the million pounds I was told I owed for the cost of the van!

We’ve grown from what was a two-man band with Mike and Andy randomly turning up on site and expecting you to be working on all aspects of the install at once. Mike whizzing around like the Tasmanian Devil, creating more mess and mayhem than being any great help. Fortunately, we soon got too busy for him, so he stopped interfering with the installs and concentrated on finding our next week’s work.

Over time we have evolved into what feels like a massive company – it keeps getting bigger and better! Every product now has thorough instructions for our installers to follow, which ensures functionality, brand consistency, and most importantly, safety for the children using our incredible spaces.

We now operate across the whole of the UK and even have a second base in Bristol. Without our bespoke CRM system, we couldn’t have achieved such substantial and accelerated growth.

I came here 13 years ago with it in my head that I would be here for about a year or two and haven’t left as I still haven’t found a proper job! Because like they say, “if you love what you do and the people you work with, you’ll never work a day in your life”.

I’ve gone from being an Installer to currently managing a team of 10. My current role involves running our Workshop and Warehouse, making sure that we have the materials in stock and made, if bespoke, and that our Installers receive everything they need to get the job into the ground.

As part of the company’s growth, my department has been bursting at the seams and we have now started the process to move to a bigger site with state-of-the-art equipment.

I am excited for my department and team and what the future holds, as I feel that we are one of the newest teams with also the most potential for development and diversification. In addition, my team members always give 120% at work and I couldn’t be prouder of that!”

Meet more of our amazing Pentagon family members who strive to improve children’s educational play experience each and every day, like Nathan, on our Meet The Team Page. You can also find out more about who Pentagon Play are and how we improve children's educational play experience for the better on our About Us Page.