Nicks Blog | Opportunity Knocks for plant hirer in Barrow

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For many, the recession is simply bad news: businesses closing, jobs being lost. For a few brave souls, however, the recession is also an opportunity.

When a major national hire company pulled the plug on its Barrow-in-Furness depot in February, it left the entire Furness peninsular in Cumbria without a plant hirer. The nearest plant hire companies were now more than an hour and a half's drive away in Kendal, Lancaster and Whitehaven.

Yet this isolation - which has earned Barrow the affectionate nickname of the largest cul-de-sac in England - has come to the town's rescue. The former hirer's demise immediately created a niche in the market in an area with more than 100,000 inhabitants. This niche has now been filled by a new company - KHJ Ltd - which opened in May and is based in Barrow itself, the area's largest town.


"We saw a void that needed filling," said plant manager Adam Parkinson. "Barrow has been sheltered to a degree from the credit crunch as there's a lot of dock yard development, and we know for a fact that there's a lot of construction work due in the next five years." What's more, the potential for gas extraction in nearby Morecambe Bay has created rumours around the town that it could see a boom akin to that experienced in Aberdeen when North Sea oil was discovered.

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http://www.contractjournal.com/blogs/digger-blog/2009/06/opportunity_knocks_for_plant_h.html