Meet the Team ~ Cabins for Schools
Gareth, the owner of Cabins For Schools, has been in the timber buildings business for over 20 years. His Arctic Cabins business is now the biggest manufacturer and distributor of BBQ cabins in the UK. He started Cabins For Schools several years ago with the idea of giving customers an alternative to ‘off the shelf’ designed garden rooms for those wanting a high quality product from an experienced and trusted supplier. All our cabins are manufactured in our Derbyshire factory supported by other local businesses for our bespoke windows and doors. Our friendly family run team are always on hand to help answer any questions you may have, no matter what time of day it is!
Gareth Parkinson
As Owner and MD of Cabins For Schools, created in 2010, Gareth has brought the company forward with its unique ‘Bespoke’ design ethic & extremely high regard for good customer service. Knowing that everyone in the world is different, has different needs for a building and also a different garden layout, he has lead the business to become the perfect answer to many peoples ‘lack of space’ problems.
Cliff Hickling
With an extensive sales background Cliff joined the team back in 2014 as a Sales Executive. He worked his way up to Head of Sales across all the companies in 2017. Cliff is based at our midlands show site and motivates the team and directs their focus, whilst continually analysing and improving the sales processes.
Anne-Marie Adams
After working in sales for most of her career Anne-Marie has worked with Gareth on several projects since 2008. In 2018 she became part of our team concentrating her talents on the Cabins for Schools and Camping Cabins side of the businesses as our B2B Sales coordinator. In 2020 she added a new feather to her bow with sales for Cabins For Schools & Arctic Cabins.
Simon Lees
Since Simon started with our company as a Sales Executive his role has quickly progressed, with his innovative ideas and strong eye for detail he has taken the lead in developing new systems across the businesses.
Simon has an active sales role within the companies and you may deal with him if you have opted for a bespoke cabin build.
David Lees
With an extensive sales background, David is a valuable member of our team. With a vast knowledge of all of our buildings, Cabins For Schools and Arctic Cabins customers are in safe hands when dealing with David.
George Jefferies
George joined us in 2018 and is a key point of contact with customers, answering queries, offering advice and introducing new products. His work includes organising site surveys demonstrating and presenting different products across the businesses.
David Coveney
David is our newest member of the sales team. He has an extensive background in house extensions & conservatories allowing him to understand the needs of the customer when it comes to creating more space at home! David is working across our Arctic Cabins & Cabin Master businesses from our Nottingham show site office.
Debbie Pickering
Debbie works within all 5 of Gareth’s companies since starting in 2013. Debbie deals with all the incoming and outgoing payments of the businesses and is the oracle when it comes to what went where, how, when and why!!
Sean Calladine
Sean runs our manufacturing operations in Derbyshire for both Cabins For Schools & Arctic Cabins. Sean has been with the company for 14 years, working his way up the ranks and has been Head of Manufacturing since 2017. He has implemented an incredible amount of new systems into that side of the business. His obsessive compulsive cleanliness tells you all you need to know about Sean and how meticulous he is with all our buildings.
Victoria Parkinson
Victoria is Head of Marketing across the 5 main companies and with a background as a professional photographer her skills have been invaluable in developing websites and company literature. Her team manage the ad & event campaigns as well as build good relationships between new and existing customers, ensuring imagery & information is readily available.
Virpi Kokko-Parkinson
Virpi, who is from Finland, met Gareth back in 1998 while travelling. They soon became the strongest team and after settling back here in the UK they decided to bring a Scandinavian tradition to Britain in the form of Arctic Cabins, established back in 2002. Virpi helps in many areas of the business including the Show Site & the Factory.
Nikki Macpherson
Nikki joined our team in spring 2020 to take over the role of calendar management. All customers will speak to Nikki to organise the dates for their cabin installations. She also works closely with our Aftercare Team and supports Marketing too… she’s one busy lady! Gifts of chocolate & Gin are gratefully received!
Rachael Butler
Rachael is part of our Garden Room Design Team. While creating your perfect garden room you may spend time with Rachael to create the visuals. She also works with our factory to supply detailed drawings for manufacturing.
Kay Manganda
Kay joined our Marketing team to support Victoria and be a bridge between our owners and new customers. Kay concentrates her time on Social Media posts and stories showing our 100k plus followers the range of cabins we install on a daily basis.
Sophie Lamb
Sophie is our in-house Graphic Designer. She creates all our literature designs from brochures & signs through to website assets and social media creations.
Rob Lee
Rob joined Cabins For Schools back in 2015 working along side Sam Elvin on installations, he quickly became a Team Leader on one of our fitting teams. Rob has always been complimented on his friendly and professional manner, not only on site but at the factory too! In 2020 he was promoted to Installations Manager and now overseas all the fitting teams for Cabins For Schools & Arctic Cabins.
Sam Elvin
Sam has been with Cabins For Schools for 12 years. This is Sam’s first job out of college but he is one of our most experienced and trusted joiners. Quiet, calm and collected, we can always rely on Sam who was promoted to Assistant Installations Manager in the summer of 2020. He plays a major part in leading our fitting teams as well as supporting our Arctic Cabins teams to get the job done and finished on site.
Paul Cotterill
Paul started in our factory building the framework for our Cabins For Schools buildings. In 2019 he moved onto our Cabin Master base teams and is now a base team leader.
Richie Buggins
In 2019 Richie joined our installation teams and is partnered up with Paul Cotterill on the more complex builds, including our Swim Spa projects.
Josh Marriott
Josh, also known as “Posh Lad” started on our base team back in 2019. Currently working alongside Callum installing cabin bases for our Cabins For Schools fitting teams.
Callum Barnsby
Callum is our newest member on the base teams. He started with us in late 2020 and hit the ground running while our teams worked hard to keep up with a huge spike in demands.
Tom Brandrick
Tom started off in our Cabins For Schools factory back in 2015 where he spent 2 years learning his way around our cabins. He then joined the fitting teams back in 2017 and has been a team leader since 2018.
Dale Hind
Dale joined the company back in 2018 as a 3rd man on Adams team. He has recently become 2nd man on Tom’s team and continues to travel the country honing his craft. He enjoys Am Dram with Mark in our Sales Team.
Recco Richardson
One of the newest members on the installation teams. He joined us in 2021 as 3rd man on Toms team. He is striving to become a 2nd man with his keen and enthusiastic approach.
Alex Parry
In 2018 Alex joined our installation teams and quickly showed his vast knowledge and skills as a 2nd man. He was promoted to Team Leader along with Tom and leads a team of 3 installing our cabins throughout the UK.
Steven Wright
Late 2018 Steven joined Cabins For Schools and is now 2nd man on Alex’s team. His strength and persistence as well as the ability to work in all conditions enables him to keep to schedules and deadlines.
Darren Marriott
Darren started with us on a subcontracting basis doing most roles within the fitting side of the company. He has now taken up a permanent position on Alex’s team alongside Steven, and looks to have a bright future with the company.
Mitchell Lewis
Mitchell started as a 3rd man back in 2019 and quickly made his way up to Team Leader running his own van after showing the skills which we require within the company, and is definitely an asset to Cabins For Schools.
Simon Saville
Simon joined Mitchells Team as 2nd man and together they are a formidable force and just love what they do. Helpful, polite and always go the extra mile.
Jordan Bestwick
Jordan joined in 2021 after leaving the army and deciding to retrain. He is the 3rd addition to Mitchells team and his enthusiasm will take him to the top.
Adam Blank
Adam started in our Arctic Cabins factory back in 2017, moving from roof making to the saw. He then trained on the Cabins For Schools side of things and became a 3rd man on Sams team in 2019 and quickly progressed to Team Leader running his own team along with his brother Jamie.
Dan Hindz
Dan started in 2020 when the business was in an all time crazy busy period. He settled in to Adam’s team perfectly and has been there ever since.
Jamie Blank
Jamie, Adam’s brother, started on our Arctic Cabins installation teams then showed a keen interest in Cabins For Schools. He decided to team up with his brother in 2020 as his 3rd man. Happy, helpful chappy on site!
Pete Dann
Pete has been our resident Electrician for many years and works on all projects from small to big. Pete has been an electrician for over 40 years and is Part P Certified and does both Domestic and Commercial work. EV charging installations, network installs and intruder alarms.
Simon Walker
5 years ago Simon came on board to assist Pete as an electrician when our Cabins For Schools & Camping Cabins businesses soared.
Brett Richards
Brett has been a part of the Electrics team here at Cabins For Schools since 2019. Brett has great knowledge on our systems and works across 4 of the main businesses.
Tom Shimwell
Tom is our in-house painter & decorator. He has painted over a thousand of our Cabins For Schools buildings throughout the UK along with our other painters.
Damian Challons
Damian joined our painting team back in 2020 and has taken things to the next level. He often works alone on the smaller cabins and alongside Tom on larger jobs and Schools cabins.
