Third depot for Site Equip

17 December 2020

One of Site Equip’s key markets is normally events but, following the pandemic, the Hampshire-based hirer of portable sanitisation equipment has successfully steered towards more positive opportunities.

Indeed, the family-owned company is soon opening its third depot in Hertfordshire to serve a growing customer base north of London.

“We’ve been searching for suitable premises for a long time,” director Amy Gilbert told me. “We obviously need a big yard because the toilets take up so much space.

“A year ago we found the new site in Stotfold, near Hitchin, and we’ve been doing a lot of work (pictured above) to convert it from previously being a car sales outlet.

“Our head office is in Lasham, midway between Basingstoke and Alton. We opened a second depot in Paddock Wood, Kent, five years ago so Stotfold completes a triangle,” added Amy.

“Very conveniently, the distance between each of them is exactly the same – you can get from one to another in 90 minutes which is great strategically."

Following the March lockdown, around 90% of Site Equip’s event hire contracts were postponed or cancelled, but it has managed to grow its construction site business by 40%.

“As a result we’ve bought 300 additional toilets for construction customers this year, and next year we’ll be adding 400 more. In June we achieved a milestone in having 1,000 toilets out on hire.”

The company sources its construction toilets from PolyJohn and its event fleet supplier is Satellite.

Site Equip developed a web-based ordering platform which has proved very successful, making it easier for customers who are working from home to do business.

The need to socially distance has also driven growth. Eight more Genquip Groundhog units have been added to the site welfare fleet this year, and Site Equip’s in-house Site Build operation has developed a range of dedicated sanitation products.

“Normally we would be building toilet trailers for event customers, but from March our Build team started designing and making hand sanitising stations to meet huge demand from schools, construction sites, local councils and manufacturing companies,” said Amy.

“We have contracts with government departments and emergency services and we had to stay operational to serve them. We also installed high-end vacuum toilets at the NHS Nightingale Hospital in Bristol (below).”

Site Equip’s new Stotfold depot is scheduled to open on 4 January. It sounds as though it will be kept busy from the start.