Anglian’s £5m investment

30 July 2021

Booming demand and the aim of providing customers with what they need from one source means that Anglian Plant has kept investing in its fleet. 

Managing director Joe Paterson tells me that the recent purchase of a 30-tonne Komatsu excavator brought the total capex to date in 2021 to more than £5m. 

“We’re really giving it a go – especially at a time when so many people say they can’t source machines at the moment. We placed orders at the end of last year. We were busy, believed that the recovery would gather pace as lockdown eased and made a commitment to buy more plant, which has paid off.” 

Joe’s got another 30-tonne machine on order from Hitachi, too. 

“We now have 800 items of plant and attachments,” he adds. “And even though the fleet has increased, we’ve never dipped below 75% utilisation this year. In fact, the fleet had doubled since 2018.” 

Anglian Plant, which is based near Norwich, has also added its first wood chipper – a tracked Timberwolf TW230VTR. 

“We have been getting a lot of enquiries from local builders’ merchants whose customers are clearing land for development and need to remove trees and vegetation,” says Joe. 

“We went for the tracked option because it’s more versatile. It can be towed on a trailer, moved around easily on a site and is less prone to theft.” 

Joe also tells me that his separate holiday cottage letting business, A Norfolk Break, is thriving, too. Managed by his wife Rachel, it’s solidly booked through the year with a few slots available in November and December.

Rachel is pictured with Anglian Plant's newly arrived chipper, being carefully inspected by the Patersons’ twin daughters Grace (left) and Bella. 

● Read the earlier Q&A that I did with Joe here.