29.08.2006

The Platform Co move in to Scotland

The Platform Company, one of the UK’s largest powered access rental companies, has opened a branch in Glasgow, its 10th location and it’s first outside of England.

The new branch is based in Wishaw, South Glasgow and includes 950 square metres (10,229 sq ft) of warehouse and office facilities as well as a 650 Square Metres (7,000 sq ft) yard. The company says that the new branch will have a fleet of over 200 machines by the end of the year and will also be an IPAF approved training centre.

The location is intended to provide a service for its existing customers as well as recruiting new construction clients in the area. It will be stocked with new Genie scissors, straight stick and articulated booms that are now being delivered as part of the company’s £30m order placed earlier this year. See Platform Co spend £30 million with Genie
Three members of staff have already been recruited, while a further three will be added over the next few weeks.
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A couple of the new Genies delivered to The Platform Company

Branch manager Gordon Mc Gill said: “It made sense to open a dedicated branch to give customers a more direct and local option. Now we can provide our customers in Scotland with an advanced service. Customer satisfaction and service are key.”

Vertikal Comment

This is the second new location for The Platform Company in eight weeks; it only opened its ninth location in Leicester at the end of June. The company has grown rapidly since the management buy out from Mitie and is clearly now stepping up the pace of that growth.

While a move into Scotland is logical and is most likely driven by some of its national customers, it will be more of a challenge than opening another location England or Wales. Scotland has a number of good locally owned access rental companies and with all things being equal, potential customers typically prefer to give their business to locally owned operations.

The Platform Company does though have an excellent reputation for doing things properly. With a brand new fleet of popular products and its major account base, it should do well, and the market is far from saturated. Local operators will of course fear introductory…predatory rate cuts as part of a strategy to gain a foothold in the market.

The market is big enough not to require this, but a lot will depend on how local rental companies react to the new location as well as the ability of Mc Gill.