1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 
EN NOM is the archetypal entrepreneur— al ways always willing to
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
try something new, even if it involves departing from his core business of plant hire and haulage. Five years ago he set up a training school for plant operators because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find them himself. Today the school, which is based along
ide his depot in Carlisle, trains hundreds of people every year 1 the use of all types of plant. Hope says it may not be a great ioney-spinner but it ensures a steady flow of good quality ecruits to the company.
His latest venture is a plant to recycle waste aggregates 'stead of dumping them in landfill sites. Run in conjunction with n offshoot of Cumbria County Council, it recycles between 700% of all the material it reprocesses. "It's a bit of a gamble," he ays. "There aren't many competitors but you're talking about p to Lim investment in this plant."
Hope left his uncle's heavy haulage business to set up as a Dntract digger operator in 1979, gradually moving into haulage 3 the business grew: "We've had to do that to keep control of le business, ensuring we offer good service to the customer." e found that the only way to ensure his plant arrived at conruction sites on time and waste materials were removed carictly was to do the work himself
The company really took off after transport and plant man;er Gary Alderman joined 15 years ago. Since then the number ' employees has jumped from six to more than 140. Although arlisle is miles from any major conurbain, the fleet is now used all over the couny. A big slice of business involves delivering juipment for the local JOB distributor in trlisle. Removing spent ballast for tiltrack forms an important part of the ,gregates recycling business: "We also do .iel deliveries for the company off the busi
Ken Hope
BASED Carlisle.
FOUNDED 1979.
Hope's six specialist road sweepers, kb are fitted with high-pressure jet-wash; systems, also criss-cross the country :h two returning last month (April) from a it at Jersey Airport where they were NI to clean the runway up after resurfac. Other customers for the sweepers lude local authorities and developers of housing estates. Apart from the road eepers there are six tippers and four low-loaders, including one with a Hiab crane, 'Wier diggers are delivered on a 7.5-tonne Mercedes-Benz 814.
Alderman says the company has now probably reached its optimum size: "I think have found a level where one part of the business works well with another. There is y a certain amount of work for them. It's better to keep two or three vehicles busy her than five or six that are a struggle to find work for."
Most of the plant is bought new but this is not always possible, given the size of SPECIALITY Plant hire and road sweepers.
TURNOVER £1m. some contracts. Over the past 10 years, for example, Hop has needed anything up to 14 road sweepers for work on th A74, which has been upgraded into a motorway. To make u the shortfall extra vehicles have been hired in or bough second-hand. In fact most of the firm's vehicles are bough second-hand and there is no policy about what age they an replaced at. "If you maintain them well, you can expect a Ion life out of them," says Alderman. "A lot of it is down to proven tive maintenance." The company employs five fitters.
Hope places a premium on loyalty when it comes to his workforce. Many of hi longest-serving employees, including Alderman, worked alongside him on motor ways and other big construction schemes before actually joining his company. Thk has helped to create a family atmosphere, particularly as Hope's wife and daughtei are part of the business as well. Alderman is one of several employees who haw moved up through the ranks into management. He says: "Ken looks after his employ ees and in return they are very loyal to him."