MAINTENANCE and repair specialist MacAulay Plant Services is set for expansion with a move to significantly larger premises.
The new HQ in Coatbridge is described as being up to four times the size of the firm’s previous single bay workshop. Formerly a bus garage, company director Angus MacAulay told Project Plant the new facility will help open a lot of doors for the business – even if moving in the middle of a pandemic isn’t the ideal timing!
“It’s pretty stressful!”Angus revealed. “We had to be out our previous place by a certain date, otherwise we would have had to stay where we were for another year as part of the agreement in the lease. That really put a bit of pressure on trying to find somewhere and literally within the last three days of the lease it all came together.”
In ordinary times, the bulk of MacAulay’s business takes place in Scotland. However, after the Scottish construction industry shutdown in March at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, work in England started to appear on a weekly basis. The firm worked in Barnsley, went as far as Exeter, and carried out undercarriage repair work to an SBM Remax 1313 impact crusher and undercarriage groups on a JCB JS370 at a project in London.
“The new workshop will see us ramping up the business,” Angus added. “It’s opening a lot of doors, which is key – we’re getting well known down south and a lot of the customers there are asking us to come back.”
Angus added that the previous workshop was restrictive in terms of the size of machinery that could be worked on at the facility. With a larger base, the company now has scope to comfortably take, for example, a 30-40 tonne machine in for work – something that wouldn’t have previously been possible.
Alongside the acquisition of the new premises, MacAulay Plant has invested in a HEMS 100T track press. “We’re always keen to invest in new products and safety is massive to customers,” Angus explained.
