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M. Davis & Sons also moved shops to Kennett Square to meet growing demand in modular construction and other areas. | PHOTO COURESTY OF M. DAVIS & SONS[/caption]
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. —
M. Davis & Sons has settled into its new headquarters in Pennsylvania, relocating its offices and a fabrication facility to meet growing demand.
The industrial construction fabrication company was long based out of Wilmington, but when operations became cramped, leadership started to look for a new building as far back as 2021.
“We honestly wanted to stay in Delaware, but there was limited inventory to fit with what we needed,” M. Davis & Sons Vice President of Strategic Development Christina MacMillan said. “This space in Kennett really was able to provide us with the right amount of space for the right price. In the new facility, we were able to gain an additional 60,000 square feet.”
M. Davis & Sons bought 227 Daylesford Court in Kennett Square and started the moving process in September 2022. The building has offices for executive staff, project managers, accounting and human resources — but also moved its pipe fabrication, sheet metal fabrication, ASME tank and non-ferrous metals fabrication shops.
The move places more than 100 of 450 employees at the firm into the new Pennsylvania office.
M. Davis & Sons still maintains its modular fabrication facility in Newark and power distribution equipment fabrication, which produces control panels in Wilmington. The family-owned firm also has operations in Havre de Grace, Md., that handles imports and field services, along with general fabrication work.
Combined, M. Davis & Sons has 175,000 square feet of floor space between four states. MacMillan noted that by moving some aspects of operations to one location, it also gave the firm room to continue its growth.
In particular, the company has seen huge demand for modular construction, which minimizes on-site disruption and relies on prefabricated parts and later installation.
“That lets us provide the most efficient methods of construction to customers, so being able to expand our shop, being able to take on more jobs and have prefabrication as an alternative for customers is huge,” she said.
M. Davis & Sons has also recently expanded in the green market, such as companies that are looking to eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and methane recovery systems. Those companies are looking into sustainable approaches to construction, or even doing the same work in a smaller space.
“The modular method of construction, or basically building a manufacturing process in a box, is attractive to companies that are thinking about that footprint. The biggest challenge is having the space to do it, and having the extra space makes a big difference,” MacMillan said.
