CBW opens in Reading: meet Catherine Ford.

As of this week, CBW Staffing Solutions has a Reading branch, led by Senior Business Manager Catherine Ford. If you hire facilities management, building maintenance, engineering or construction staff in and around Reading, or you work in those trades and want a recruiter who knows them, Catherine is the person to speak to.

Why Reading, and why now

CBW started in 2019 with a simple aim: recruit for the trades we understand, properly. Since then we have grown from London and Dartford to Edinburgh, Newcastle and, earlier this month, Manchester. Reading is the next step.

Until now, clients and candidates in the area have been looked after by our London and Dartford teams. [Dan: one or two sentences on why CBW is opening in Reading, e.g. client demand or existing accounts in the area.] Having someone dedicated to the patch means quicker conversations, better local knowledge and a recruiter who can get to site when it matters.

Meet Catherine Ford

Catherine joined CBW as Senior Business Manager on 26 October 2026 and leads our work in Reading.

What sits behind the Reading branch

Catherine is not starting from scratch. She has the whole of CBW behind her:

• Offices across the UK: London head office, Dartford, Edinburgh, Manchester and Newcastle, so a client with sites outside Reading still deals with one agency.
• Experience: our consultants have more than 100 years' combined experience in the sectors we recruit for.
• Dedicated resourcers: their sole job is tracking the permanent and temporary candidate market, so we know who is available before a vacancy lands.
• Every level: we recruit from apprentice to managing director, permanent and temporary.
• Specialist pools: we place a large number of ex-forces engineers, mainly from the Royal Navy and Royal Engineers, and we place water treatment and water hygiene engineers into large FM providers.

How we screen engineers

A CV that lists the right tickets is a starting point, not a shortlist. Before we put an engineer forward, we check the qualifications the role depends on, such as 18th Edition, F-Gas, NVQ Level 3 and L8.

We also run our own in-house technical test of around 60 questions covering electrical fundamentals, safe working and legislation, water systems and L8, HVAC and refrigeration, and controls and BMS. It means the engineers you interview have already been tested on the work, not just on paper. The same standard applies in Reading as it does everywhere else we work.

What this means if you're hiring



If you manage maintenance, FM or engineering teams in the Reading area, you now have a CBW contact on your doorstep. Catherine can take a brief for a single engineer or a full team, permanent or temporary, and she has CBW's national network and screening process to draw on. If your sites stretch beyond the Thames Valley, the rest of the team is a phone call away.

What this means if you're looking

If you are an engineer, supervisor or manager in FM, building maintenance, engineering or construction and you live in or around Reading, Catherine wants to hear from you. Whether you are actively looking or just want to know what your skills are worth locally, a conversation costs nothing. We are rated 4.8 on Google from 124 reviews.

Get in touch

Hiring in the Reading area? Send us a vacancy (/submit-a-vacancy) and Catherine will pick it up. If you are looking for your next role, browse our live roles (/job-results). Or call us on 01182076360 and ask for Catherine. You can also reach her directly at Cat@cbwstaffingsolutions.com