22.01.2014

Facelift adds chairman and looks towards franchising

UK-based access rental company Facelift has appointed Nigel Hunton as its non-executive chairman to help with future growth and development.

Hunton is currently chief executive of MBA Polymers and has 30 years senior management experience. He was previously chief executive of Edwards, a $1billion revenue global company, providing vacuum and abatement solutions.
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Nigel Hunton

Hunton joins Facelift to help it plan and implement its next phase of development, which may include expansion overseas and repositioning of the brand. He has known Facelift owner Gordon Leicester for almost 30 years and during that time has been informally involved with strategic development, and so is familiar with the company and its products.

“It will be great to work with Gordon and the executive team to formulate and implement a clear strategy going forward,” said Hunton. “The company has 30 years of history and has developed into a great brand, but the question is how do you take it to the next level? My international and industrial experience will help reposition and expand the company through franchising, opening up more opportunities. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to join a phenomenal brand.”

A 27 year BOC group veteran, Hunton said safety is in-built to the way you think and Facelift has that safety culture. “It has great teamwork and a platform to grow,” he added. “It ticks all the boxes for me as a non-exec chairman.”

Leicester said: "One of the main development centres around creating a franchise - building on the company’s brand - rolling it out both in the UK and possibly in other English speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Plant rental is a service industry and sometimes smaller companies - including franchises - can give a more personal service.”

In the UK a franchisee would adopt the brand and processes in areas not covered by the existing Facelift depot network. These franchises would mainly supply smaller machines with the large machine requirements being supplied by Facelift depots.
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Gordon Leicester (L) and Nigel Hunton

“A powered access rental business can set up with a limited range such as Niftylift 90/120/170 trailer lifts, a couple of small scissors and a HR12 self-propelled boom," adds Leicester. "It would be open to people with complementary skills and not necessarily experienced people from within the industry. Looking at the population densities in the UK there are lots of areas where this would work.”

“We have almost everything in place to make this happen – company structure, manuals etc and will then trial it, with the hope of making it a going concern by the end of this year. Equipment can be supplied by Facelift or purchased by the new franchisee, but would have to mirror the current fleet ie Niftylift, Skyjack and Ascendant. Size would be governed by equipment that can be delivered with a car license. It would also have to be a member of IPAF and certified to IPAF Rental + and therefore audited by IPAF as far as systems and quality. There is also a need for this in other countries, where start-up companies have a problem purchasing equipment, setting up procedures, safety and legislation.”