The recent recession in the construction industry, which took a heavy and sometimes fatal toll on longstanding household names, has ended for Pochins Concrete Pumping (now Professional Concrete Pumping), which was forced into a distressed sale in July 2012.
The dramatic turnaround of the company and the construction sector in the last 18 months, and the vision and confidence of investors in Professional, has resulted in unprecedented investment and growth plans for 2014.
The rebranded company, still the largest and only national concrete pumping company in the UK, will increase the size of its mobile fleet by a staggering 25%+ by August 2014. In addition, its ambitious £5.2 million plant growth strategy will also more than quadruple its capacity in the static and placing boom market which saw exceptional UK demand outstripping supply during 2013.
The Concrete Show will see the unveiling of Professional's first new mobile pump acquisitions in more than seven years on both the Putzmeister and Liebherr stands. These will be the first of the deliveries of the lower and midrange pumps commencing in March for completion by July.
Professional's Commercial Director, Bill Lloyd, said: "The recent recession in the construction industry took a heavy and sometimes fatal toll on many household names of longstanding years, Pochins Concrete Pumping included. But we, under our new structure, are staging a miraculous turnaround - from death's door in the recession we are now investing in the biggest fleet turnaround and replacement ever known in this sector.
"The quantity and range of our new mobile pumps has been determined after careful analysis of the general demand and discussions with our strategic partners and customers. We also held extensive and detailed discussions with our supply partners across Europe.
"Most of our early deliveries will come from our traditional supply partner, Putzmeister, who have an excellent understanding of the UK market and our operational and strategic requirements. We continue to be impressed by their world-class production facilities in Aichtal, Germany, and their evolutionary design concepts.
"We have also been seriously impressed with the robustness, quality and design of the new Liebherr concrete pump and their extensive production facilities in Neu-Ulm and Bad Schussenried, Germany.
"Liebherr's Sales Development Engineer, Adam Dembny, said: "Following Liebherr's acquisition of Waitzinger, we were looking for the right company to partner our launch in the UK market. As the largest company with a national infrastructure, Professional ticked all the right boxes, taking delivery of the first pump in March and the remainder by July 2014."
Professional's Managing Director, Peter Liddle, added "Our rapid growth plans are both challenging and exciting and are designed to address the supply and demand imbalances we experienced in 2013. We are still in discussions with our plant supply partners across Europe and the US to meet accelerating demand for static pumps, mixers and placing booms by June of this year at the latest. The demand for static concrete pumps was so high in the summer of 2013 that we could not buy additional new plant or capacity anywhere in Europe.
"Our plans for 2015, 16 and 17 are equally ambitious and although we are monitoring the effects of continued belt-tightening by Government, we and our investors are sufficiently optimistic to conclude the end of this prolonged construction industry recession and Professional's emergence as a fitter, leaner and more progressive concrete pumping company."