'Big enough to do business'

U PWARDS and onwards is the call on the South Bank as a leading multinational access specialist unveiled its sprawling new base, following the acquisition of a local business.

Major investment has seen Harsco Infrastructure establish a five-acre plant in Manby Road, South Killingholme, after Nicol was brought into a stable that already featured scaffolding specialist SGB.

Now both have been brought together under the badge with global appeal as part of the American NYSE-listed Harsco Corporation.

Since the Nicol deal was completed, for an undisclosed sum, a site that features a two-storey new administration block, massive workshops for painting and pipework insulation, and dedicated shot-blasting and training facilities, has been assembled.

The team that have pulled it all together were delighted to launch it this month, with clients and potential customers shown around.

Paul Holmes, managing director for Harsco Infrastructure's UK & Ireland operations, said: "The strength of the Nicol business was clear. It has developed a really good service offering to the chemical, petro-chemical and heavy industry markets in a 30 mile radius of Immingham.

"It brings in a multi-discipline approach, across access, painting, insulation and the safety side, and this means that when we are maintaining sites or on shut-downs, we can offer a full service to our customers, rather than just one element.

"We do lot of this work in Europe and the Middle East so it is a strategic acquisition in that respect. It brings in some of the painting and insulation disciplines in to our UK portfolio.

"Now we want to take a very successful business here and expand that into other industrial areas of the UK."

John Barrett, chief operating officer for Harsco, said: "We want to deliver and develop. The world is becoming much smaller in terms of global customers and that is one of the reasons why we are adopting the stronger name, which is recognised in 42 countries.

"We work with a number of the businesses Nicol serves elsewhere. The really positive message now is that we can provide solutions on a global scale."

More than 230 people are directly employed at the South Bank base, swelling the Harsco workforce to 1,800 in the UK. The buy-out plays a major part in the company's aim to split work in the industrial and construction sectors equally. Mr Holmes said: "The acquisition of Nicol is a big step in working towards that strategy and accelerating growth."

Of the development, which is five times that previously occupied by Nicol, he said: "The site was all part of the development plan and this investment will continue. This is an all-new facility that we have moved into and it is all about setting our stall out here. We will not only provide the access and the products on our customers' sites, we can fabricate here and shot-blast here, providing all these services locally."

Nicol was founded 15 years ago as an insulation company, building up and adding painting, blasting and scaffolding services as it developed to about £15 million turnover.

Former managing director Colin Hill, who is now business development director with Harsco Infrastructure, said: "We saw we needed to grow and one or two businesses showed an interest. Harsco fitted exactly what we needed going forward, with more support, more resources and a wider range of equipment.

"We can now talk to people who we were not able to before because maybe the projects were out of our reach. We are now big enough to do business."