New home for AA Global as expansion continues

Kirk Akdemir (centre) with AA Global’s General Manager Andrei Sparling (right) and the company’s Special Development Projects Manager Ignas Mikoliunas outside Stonefield House.

A LANGUAGE and translation company which has expanded to become one of the UK leaders is on the move to new premises as it prepares to welcome more recruits to its team.

AA Global Language Services Ltd has secured a lease for the second floor of Stonefield House in King Edward Street, Hull, and will relocate its team later this month.

Kirk Akdemir, CEO of the company, said the new office suite in the heart of the city centre is more convenient for staff and the improved working environment, with more than 3,200 square feet of open plan space, will bring benefits for clients.

Kirk founded AA Global in Worcester nearly 30 years ago and opened the Hull office at the side of Hull Marina in 2011 with just two staff as part of an overall team of around 12.

The number has now more than doubled with the recruitment of six new people to a variety of interpreting, translating and accounts roles in readiness for the move. The new office will house 20 of the total of 25 staff and AA Global also has around 14,000 translators and interpreters operating worldwide and covering more than 500 languages and dialects.

Kirk said: “That international network makes us one of the top five providers in our sector in the UK and we are recruiting more full-time staff. We got to the point where we just couldn’t expand any more at the Marina so we began to look elsewhere.

“The location of our new office is very convenient and much closer to the public transport network and the main shopping areas. It’s also a better working environment – with everyone in an open plan office on the same floor we will be able to provide an even better service for our clients and that will support the next phase of our expansion.”

AA Global assists major clients in the public and private sectors with services which include translating, editing and proof-reading documents and online content and interpreting face-to-face, by phone and in a live environment at conferences.

The company equips its translators and interpreters with the skills and knowledge relevant to particular client sectors, an aspect of the service which will be enhanced by the move.

Kirk said: “We provide client-based training to ensure that our translators and interpreters are familiar with the language of the business sectors in which they operate, and the extra space at Stonefield House will enable us to prove all of that tuition in-house.”

Kirk is considering a number of options for the future use of Global House, the four-storey property which he bought to launch AA Global in Hull. The ground floor is occupied by a café and sandwich shop which he took over in 2013 when the existing tenant decided to close the business. The top three floors have all been used as office space as AA Global has expanded over the years.