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Building for the future
Page 52
Page 53
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The NWH Group has transformed from a famity-run tipper haulage operation in 1967 into a £25m turnover one-stop-shop construction service. CM finds out about its expansion plans.
Words: Kevin Swallow / Images: Tom Cunningham
Construction is a high-profile casualty of the global recession, and it's a market where Scottish firm The NWH Group, based in Dalkeith, earns its crust.
For Mark and Craig Williams, managing director and operations director respectively, its timing has put plans for geographical and volume growth on the back-burner.
"The plan was to move to other areas; the recession has set us back three or four years, but the plan is still there. We want the hassle of doing more," Mark says.
It's the first obstacle the brothers have had to face since a management buyout in 2005. The business, started by their father, David, and their uncle, Neil, in 1967, was a tipper haulier until 1988, with turnover rising from £12,000 to £220,000.
Between 1987 and 1993, David's three sons, Craig, Richard and Mark, joined the company, and in 1999 Mark became MD. "In 2000, we were turning over £1.5m, and then in the space of three years it went up to £12m and then up again," Mark explains. "It got to a point where it was bigger than David or Neil would like to have, they were quite happy with 25 lorries and a nice, wee familyrun business."
With Richard looking after administration and finance and sister Lisa working on employment and legislation, what the second generation has brought to the company is diversification. Within the group, Construction Services mainly a muck-shifting enterprise turns over £14m. The group has expanded into recycling, which generates a further £5m, and is complemented by City Sweep, plant, skip and trailer hire. City Thick Sales has also been created (see panel).
NWH now employs 170 staff and turned over £25m in the last financial year. While construction and muck-shifting remains central, recycling now represents a key area. "All the waste we collect, whether it is muckaway or skip waste, goes back to the recycling site. It is screened and turned into a high-quality aggregate, which we haul again and sell back into the market. The residual waste has to go to tip, but we recycle 90% of what we haul out," Mark says.
With recycling, the company offers a one-stop-shop service for the industry, including taking soil away, offering plant to move the soil, return aggregate for the next phase of construction, and keeping the entry roads clean.
Both Mark and Craig believe the company has the perfect set-up to move into other areas of the country, such as Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow. "The main plan was to set up the costs, spend the money on a bespoke IT system. Our lorries have PDAs and each job is sent from the office here we can then have satellite depots effectively working anywhere," Mark explains.
"With the brand recognition of NWH, you can go and do it. The west of Edinburgh and the central belt [towards Glasgow] is very industrial. We have to keep the volumes going and to increase, we have to look at different areas two of my sales guys are based in Glasgow," he adds.
"We sell gravel as far away as Paisley we are in these areas working I would say 40% of our turnover is coming from the west of Scotland," Mark says.
Hungry for success
They already have a satellite depot in Glasgow, but the recession has put plans for a bigger site on hold. "It's a heavily populated place in terms of tippers, but there is the volume of work there if you can give an edge on a service basis, then why not compete?" he asks.
The intent to compete is illustrated by adding a third sales person to the team. "We put extra resources and more management time into the sales team," Mark says. "We operate in the east and west of Scotland, we are not just a haulage company; we do everything." •