Colmil Plant & Equipment Co Ltd             About Us ‘Simply the best’ A company history of Colmil Plant & Equipment Co Ltd Scaffolding is an ancient skill handed down through the centuries. It is incumbent on scaffolders today to uphold and maintain the skill and traditions of past masters. One firm dedicated to upholding that proud tradition is the Gateshead based company Colmil Plant & Equipment. Colmil provides an efficient and effective scaffolding service in a complex industry – one which imposes pressure on costs, where timeliness is critical to production and one in which safety is of paramount importance. Colmil plant & Equipment Company with the head office based in Abbotsford Road, Felling, Gateshead is the name synonymous with scaffolding excellence in the North of England. Established over 40 years ago, the company services the housing, construction and shipping industries throughout the North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, offering a completely managed sub-contracted scaffolding service or individually designed hire only packages. Colmil is dedicated to providing clients with a modern efficient and effective scaffolding service utilising the skills of personnel trained by and registered with the Construction Industry Training Board. All Colmil scaffolders and managers are professionals directly employed by the company; they are proud of their ability to provide safe places of work. The firm believes that statutory regulations regarding safety are wholly justified amidst the complexity of modern construction activity. Colmil is committed to safety through training: their working foundation is British Standard 5973:Code of Practice – safety is not open to compromise. According to managing director Peter Hagen ‘…to produce a quality service for a client who places no limit on time and money is a relatively easy objective to achieve and is every suppliers dream…to do so in an industry which imposes pressures on costs, where timeliness is critical to production and safety is of paramount importance is a reality Colmil has achieved not by dreaming, but by actively developing the reputation within a complex industry of being ‘Simply the Best’. The company was founded on 23rd November 1956 and still retains its original logo of a scaffold-clad building. The business took its name from its two founders Hughie Colquhoun and George Miles. The business was first based in a yard in Saville Place, Newcastle – now part of Newcastle Civic Centre. The company remained there until 1968 at which point, to accommodate an increasing workload and growing workforce, the company relocated to offices and a yard south of the Tyne at Abbotsford Road, Felling, where the head office remains to this day. The current owner and managing director Peter Hagen joined the company in 1971 and successfully completed a management buy-out in 1995 from which point the company has gone from strength to strength. Between 1978 and 1996 the company expanded geographically into Yorkshire and the West Midlands, acquiring bases in Wakefield and Brierley Hill near Birmingham. The main challenge facing the company during the 1970’s and 80’s was to move away from a dependence on industrial and heavy engineering work and to establish its own niche market where the firm could gain a reputation for quality and service. Although competition was there in abundance from smaller organisations – businesses that often had less concern for safety, training and direct employment of their workforce – the company began to concentrate their efforts in the rapidly growing housing market. Some of the firm’s competitors at the time were ‘cash in hand’ organisations and were just as problematic as the ‘cowboy-builders’ who have received so much attention in more recent times. Having researched the market however, the company focused its attention on the house building market offering tailor-made business packages to clients. Those packages included an all –embracing concept of design, supply and control of scaffolding equipment which the client then rented on a hire basis and utilised his own scaffolders. Colmil developed an in-depth knowledge and understanding not only of scaffolding requirements in the house building industry but also of the construction techniques and working methods of all individuals trades involved in the production of a house. Following a period of phenomenal growth during the eighties the housing market collapsed during 1989/90. Colmil however detected the early signs of a change in the building industry, particularly with regard to cost accountability and safety legislation. That foresight prompted Colmil to develop its sub-contract scaffolding operations to the housing market taking total responsibility for the design supply of materials and provision of labour trained to recognised national standards of competence. Colmil succeeded in its aim whilst simultaneously retaining the firms’ presence in the industrial market. The number of people employed by Colmil has risen from some 45 in 1990 to a current level of 125. The company firmly believes in, and is committed to, the training of apprentice scaffolders. That training is provided in conjunction with the Construction Industry Training Board’s apprenticeship scheme and in association with the National Access & Scaffolding Confederations. The company is currently training over 20 apprentices and anticipates this will increase year on year for some time to come. It takes two years to train a scaffolder to the current required levels of competence but according to Peter Hagen ‘the best scaffolders of the future are those your are training today.’ Peter Hagen now believes ‘the company’s future will now be one of controlled geographical expansion, concentrating our resources and skills in areas where we can be effective and having influence in matters concerning the safety of those individuals who rely on us to provide a safe working area to carry on their trade.’