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.
The company's start-up fleet is dominated by CASE machines, supplied from nearby dealer Dennis Barnfield Ltd based in Carnforth. "We've taken six CASE excavators - a 13t CX130B, an 8t CX80, a 5t CX50B, two CX22B machines and a CX15B - a 5-series backhoe (580SR), and two hammers as well," added Parkinson. The company has also bought a fleet of five dumpers, two micro-diggers, a pair of rollers and two telehandlers.
A Case CX50B like the model run by KHJ Ltd.
"We've had a long term relationship with KHJ's proprietors from a previous business and are delighted to be able to help them now in their new enterprise," explained Malcolm Mackay, Barnfield's sales director.
The target market for the new company is the area's regional building contractors, such as Leck Construction and the Thomas Armstrong Group. "There are quite a few national civil engineering companies working in the area as well and we're happy to help them, and United Utilities is carrying out a lot of water infrastructure work in South Lakeland," said Parkinson.
"We'll cover Barrow, the rest of the Furness peninsular, South Lakeland and over to the M6, up as far as Penrith if requested," he added. KHJ does not intend to neglect smaller customers, however. "We'll look after local builders too as well as the general public looking for a machine to use for the weekend." In Barrow, even the dark clouds of the recession may have a sliver lining.
