Event hire firm in £1m expansion

A WALSALL-based equipment hire firm has invested £1m in a major expansion scheme to help it meet increasing demand for its services.

Event Hire has managed to double its turnover and workforce despite the economic conditions and is now planning further growth.

The company, based on the Maple Leaf Industrial Estate, Bloxwich Lane, has also opened two further depots in the north and south of the country to ensure it can service high profile contracts including the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the expansion includes the purchase of a fleet of vehicles and additional stock.

Stock includes furniture, glassware and linen, while the company also has more than 50,000 chairs. It said the quality had to be high to reflect the style of events being catered for.

The business, established by Les Vipond and Phil Edwards in 2005, has thrived over the past five years, and while many industries were forced to downsize and take measures including pay cuts and redundancies, Event Hire took the decision to invest in the new sites, new staff and new stock to ensure it continued to service its clients.
 
The growth, which has seen staff numbers increase from 20 to 40, secured the business the Hire Company of the Year with multiple outlets accolade at the Hire Awards of Excellence 2010.
 
Les Vipond, managing director, said: “We’re in the fortunate position of having an excellent reputation within the industry, and the decision to expand was made to ensure we continued to deliver on that reputation.
 
“Contracts including the British Grand Prix, Royal Ascot, the Royal International Air Tattoo and the MOBO Awards – plus thousands of weddings a year across the country – have meant we had to increase our stock.”

The Walsall site was deliberately chosen because of its geographic position at the heart of the country, but he said the new sites in Bradford and London would ensure better nationwide coverage.

“We’re into the busiest time of the event calendar – spring/summer always sees us taking on additional seasonal staff, but we’ve a good number of exciting contracts coming up in the next six months, so we’re not ruling out further growth before the year is out. It’s good to be one of the region’s success stories,” added Mr Vipond.

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