Bristol-based specialist engineering firm Mawdsleys BER is to expand further into the South West after acquiring a Somerset business.
Mawdsleys BER, which has made and serviced electric motors, generators and pumps in St Philips since 2001, will use the Chard base of Somerset Pumps to extend its services into Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall.
All Somerset Pumps employees have been retained by Mawdsleys BER, including workshop, engineering and sales staff. Further pump engineers may be employed in the future at Chard as the business expands, Mawdsleys BER said. 
Mawdsleys BER manufactures and overhauls AC/DC electric motors, pumps and generators for blue-chip customers such as Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Babcock and the MoD.
It also has a pump division with four on-call engineers covering a radius of 60 miles from Bristol, including Cardiff and South Wales. The division’s main customers are major local councils, schools, facilities management, and domestic users of sewage, clean water and borehole pumps.
The Somerset Pumps takeover is the first acquisition by the firm, which employs 10 mechanical engineers and six office/management staff at its 13,000 sq ft state-of-the-art workshops.
Managing director Pete Woodward said: “The acquisition of Somerset Pumps is our latest commitment to expand and improve services to our customers.
“This will help us increase our service area of the UK, predominantly within our pump service division. As a company we are committed to reinvestment, thus ensuring the sustainability of our service.”
The firm’s service stretches from initial design to on-going maintenance as well as repairing and refurbishing old machinery.
