Executive Hire News › Archives › June 2009 › Executive Report : Brandon re-builds Constitution
Executive Report : Brandon re-builds Constitution
Robert Aplin reports from Birmingham on the fire that badly damaged Brandon's large Constitution Hill depot and charts the hirer's efforts to get back in business.
At 1.20am on the morning of Friday 8 August last year, the alarm was raised as a fire started in Brandon Hire’s depot in Constitution Hill, close to the centre of Birmingham. In the ensuing nine months as the depot has been substantially re-built, the real story of the fire has been the response from Brandon teams both in that depot and the local area.
When it opened in January last year, it was Brandon’s largest outlet at 17,000ft2 and 10,000ft2 of secured yard. It also represents the hirer’s largest retail selling space. MD Tim Smith says, “the opening of this site was a key part of our strategy to strengthen our national coverage. Rather than open four smaller sites in the area, we decided to open a single site and put a large dot on the map to improve our national coverage. In 2008, we also added other large ‘dots’ in Coatbridge in Glasgow, Stratford in east London and Salford in Manchester.”
Located directly opposite a Speedy branch, Tim Smith continues, “the highly visible site on Constitution Hill features most of our activities – tools, lifting and pipe hire. The build cost was £150,000 and we invested a further £650,000 in new equipment. Having re-located our Aston operation on the opening of this depot, its performance in the months leading up to the fire was exceeding our expectations.”
Explosions and intense heat
At the height of the blaze, 15 fire trucks and 75 fire personnel were at the scene. Having apparently started in an extraction fan in the workshops, the fire quickly spread in the combustible environment of a hire depot. With fuel in the kit stored in the warehouse, there were numerous localised explosions and intense heat, which melted the cladding in the opposite corner of the building to where the blaze started. With the danger of exploding acetylene cylinders, fire officers did not allow any Brandon personnel back into the building until 36 hours after the fire.
Remarkably, the depot was up and running again by 7.30am on the Monday morning. Regional Manager Jason Laight takes up the story. “Having been called to the site by the fire brigade, the first sensible step was to phone as many staff as possible before they set off for work to re-direct them on the Friday morning. We were able to set up separate IP addresses to allow certain admin and customer support staff to operate from home. Having lost our central IT support, we were able to get our Key Account and Area Managers back on line remotely and they were able to work much as normal.
“Whilst the warehouse and workshops were badly damaged, the hire counter and showroom, separated from the warehouse by a brick wall, were largely unscathed, although there was smoke damage. Because of our branch network, we diverted phones to other local sites and these branches also carried out our deliveries in order to maintain our high standards of customer service and provide continuity of business.
“We were able to take off-hires from customers who returned kit, issuing a handwritten note. For collect customers wanting to hire,
we took their order and arranged for another branch to deliver. Our large outlet in West Bromwich provided much support and most of the Constitution Hill team went to other branches to help out, as their workloads had inevitably increased.
“When we were given clearance to access the building on the Saturday afternoon, everyone waded in and started to get things sorted. We worked throughout the weekend and, by Monday morning, we were able to operate laptops in the branch and all paperwork was again produced electronically. There were no major issues during this time and we did not make a drama out of a crisis. The incident certainly galvanised our team and their response was fantastic. We also had great help from suppliers that delivered replacement equipment almost immediately.”
Destroyed and damaged equipment
All the hire fleet equipment was inspected for damage from water, smoke, heat, steam or soot. Most of it was taken away and stored in a warehouse locally, to await inspection by insurers. Anything electrical was also removed. All the lifting gear has been scrapped. Remnants of equipment completely destroyed were also taken away. Brandon has additionally replaced all damaged re-sale equipment. According to Jason, “much of the equipment was just ashes and the vast majority was not fit to be repaired. For example, several Hilti cases had melted and aluminium tower sections were corroded from the effects of steam and heat.”
Tim Smith had the option to abandon the Constitution Hill site and re-locate to a new facility, which would certainly have been quicker and easier. However, with such a successful high profile location, he opted to stay and Brandon’s landlords have carried out all the structural work. The building has been completely re-clad, new beams and roof have been added, the first floor suite of offices has been re-fitted throughout and the entire building has been re-wired.
Regional Director John Whitby, who joined Brandon in November last year after 33 years with Hewden Tools, has helped to shape the new facility. “The fire gave us the opportunity to re-layout the branch in a more operationally friendly way and staff had an input in this. Whilst the showroom and counter layouts are unchanged, the workshops have been re-located and fast-moving hire items are closer to the counter. In all my years in tool hire, this is the best tool hire depot I have ever worked in.”
Having started the re-building work just after Christmas, the contractors finished the project in early May. As the lease on its Sparkhill branch had expired at the same time as the re-development work at Constitution Hill was completed, Brandon has re-located the business and all the staff into the refurbished site. For its common goal and decisive action to get back in business, Brandon deserves great credit. •
www.brandonhire.co.uk |
