25.05.2012

Nationwide’s ‘Super Depots’ fully functional

Nationwide Platforms two new London ‘super depots’, which opened earlier this year, are now fully operational. The company says they are two of the largest powered access depots in Europe.

The London East - in West Thurrock - and London West location in Uxbridge employ 80 staff between them, with a base fleet of around 1,800 units. The brand new facilities serve greater London and the South East region of England.
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Nationwide Platform's new London East depot

In addition to providing the company's full range of rental equipment, both branches have substantial training facilities, offering IPAF, PASMA and other accredited courses on a daily basis.
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Inside one of the new locations

Nationwide Platforms’ regional director – South East, Marc Johnson, said: “Our business strives to provide all powered access users with the best practice solutions that can make their work safer and more efficient, regardless of the challenges they may face. The range and quantity of machines we have in the London East and West depots has already begun to make this a reality for hundreds of projects, from the very short term day-to-day jobs, to long term construction and engineering work.”

Vertikal Comment

The concept of single very large locations is not new of course, and is only practical for very large cities or small countries with good road systems. It does offer a number of advantages though in terms of the range of equipment in stock, the services that can be offered etc...

1,000 unit plus depots have been a fact of life in the USA for many years, due to the significantly higher market penetration that powered access still has, the good road systems and abundance of large conurbations.

In Europe most companies have tended to open more and more new locations as they grow, although there have been some significant exceptions - some companies chose to remain with one very large depot and spend more on transport - ones that spring to mind include Riwal in Dordrecht, Height for Hire in Dublin, Universal in London - for its time - and DK rental in Waregem.

In the UK the general rental companies such as Speedy and HSS have also been looking toward Superstores, although like the large supermarkets they are also introducing some very local ‘express stores’.

Moving forward we can expect to see more super and mega depots in the general powered access field while the general rental company express stores might be a focal point for the smallest equipment such as the Liftpod, the Air and the Peco.

It will be very interesting to see how this trend develops...