About Us

Gratte Brothers Limited was first registered on 22nd May 1946 by Derrick and André Gratte as an electrical contracting business based in Knebworth, Hertfordshire. Shortly after, Derrick Gratte left Knebworth to establish a London branch of the company in Red Lion Square, Holborn.

It did not take long for our London branch to outgrow the Knebworth operation by acquiring major blue chip clients in the retail and expanding aviation sectors.

Martin and Ian Gratte, Derrick’s sons, joined the London headquarters (by now located in Wicklow Street WC1), just as company turnover reached £1,000,000 for the first time. Our Knebworth office opened a dedicated commercial catering equipment division.

Martin and Ian Gratte were appointed to the Board, bringing new ideas. We established a separate M&E design division and added a mechanical building services capability to our portfolio of services.

We won the largest M&E contract to date (£250,000, to provide building services to the Chinese Embassy in London). Our turnover reached £13m and Ian Bass, Derrick’s son-in-law, was appointed Financial Director.

Having outgrown Wicklow Street, we relocated to Regents Wharf, N1 and completed our first data centre project. We also registered a separate commercial catering equipment company and an electronic security management company as subsidiaries of the Gratte Brothers Group.

We acquired a mechanical services company, adding over 100 new staff to our business. Derrick’s eldest grandson Stephen was joined at the company by David, another grandson.

In 2016, we celebrated our 70th Anniversary. Stephen and David were joined by Chris Bass, a third Grandson of Derrick, and all three were appointed to the Group Board.