The additional vehicles required no significant cash injection as a result of Northgate’s flexible and non-contractual offering, which allowed the plant hire company to free up a claimed £18,750 to invest into other areas of the business.
The company credits the vehicles from Northgate as being a driving factor behind its acquisition of a contract with Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station. Due to the scale of the Hinkley project, significant investment into plant equipment, staff recruitment and training was required, as was investment into a larger fleet of modern, branded vehicles.
‘Before the huge increase in the scale of our projects, we were able to manage through sourcing vehicles on three year leasing contracts,’ explained Andy Kennard, plant manager at Plantforce.
‘However, we had begun to notice rising MOT, servicing, maintenance and repair costs. Once we won the contract to supply plant machinery for the Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station our circumstances changed instantly – there was simply no way the rigid infrastructure we had in place could cope with a project of that scale so it was vital to review alternatives and look for a more flexible option.
‘By working with Northgate we have been able to add much needed flexibility to our operations and enjoy the benefits of utilising a modern fleet with no upfront costs or sourcing issues, a full livery service and inclusive servicing, maintenance and repair. More importantly, we’ve been able to keep capital within the business, rather than injecting it into a fleet, which would have been unavoidable if we had gone down the purchase route.’