An expanding marketing services firm celebrated the official opening of its new head office in Bury St Edmunds yesterday.

Precision Marketing Group’s Lamdin Road offices, refurbished and extended at a total cost of £2.2million, including new plant and solar panels, were officially opened by the town’s new MP, Jo Churchill, and new mayor, Patrick Chung, in their first social engagements since taking office.

The opening was attended by a number of senior figures from local businesses as well as representatives from Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Carbon Leaders and Carbon Smart.

The building’s facelift, which includes eco-friendly features such as 400 solar panels and full LED lighting, was made possible with the help of significant grant support from Grants4Growth and the Growing Business Fund, with the work taking just under a year to complete.

Speaking at the event, Ms Churchill hailed the head office as offering “benchmark green initiatives within the marketing industry”.

Managing director and owner Matthew Caldwell-Nichols, who launched the business in 1995 with wife, Sarah, said they were “delighted” to welcome the new MP and the new mayor of Bury St Edmunds to officially open their building and to showcase and demonstrate the impressive facilities they had.

“This is a real milestone and will dramatically reduce our carbon footprint and position us as the green leaders within our industry,” he said.

Following the official opening, Ms Churchill and Mr Chung were taken on a tour around the premises and met with staff.

They were shown how on that day the entire site was solar powered because it was a sunny day.

The workforce at Bury has already grown from 50 to 70 as a result of the move from its previous premises.

Across its sites, which include offices at St Ives and Watton, it employs around 100 full- and part- time staff.

The firm says it is “passionately committed” to environmental sustainability and its relocation was heavily influenced by the workshops it attended through Suffolk County Council, West Suffolk College, Suffolk Carbon Leaders and Carbon Smart.

Over 2015 the firm aims to solar power the building and operational machinery. It has replaced all fluorescent tube lighting with LEDs, upgraded its heating and cooling system, as well as using vegetable based inks, and has smashed the recycling rate to make it compliant with ISO 14001. It has also been awarded the Suffolk Carbon Charter Silver.

The premises, at 25,000sq ft, is two and half times larger than its previous home, said Mr Caldwell-Nichols.

“We are just so fortunate with our work environment and our outside area which looks out onto the golf course. Our guests really seemed thrilled,” he said.