Operating the largest number of depots of any hire company in Scotland, GAP Hire Solutions continues to invest in premises, equipment and vehicles.
GAP is the only national hire company that is independent and privately owned. Headquartered in Glasgow where it employs 160 people, the company has 27 depots and offices, £104m of hire equipment and 150 vehicles servicing customers from the Highlands and Islands to the Borders.
Joint Managing Director, Douglas Anderson said: “Being privately owned allows us to take a long-term planning perspective under which we make consistent decisions that are in the best interests of our employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders – this is quite different from PLCs who can be a little less consistent in making decisions that are focused on their share price.”
Examples of such long-term planning are recent investments in new, improved depot premises in Scotland which include:
- Relocation of the Elgin depot to a 3-acre site with new purpose-built premises at a cost of £1.7m. The depot now supplies customers in the Moray region and further afield with Plant, Tools, Non-Mechanical, Trenching & Shoring, Welfare and Tanker Services.
- The Inverness depot has just been relocated to a new, £1.4m state-of-the-art, purpose-built 1.5-acre site. With four divisions operating out of this location – Plant, Tools, Lifting and Survey – and with the support from Elgin’s Non-Mechanical, Trenching & Shoring, Welfare and Tanker Services divisions, GAP has the widest range and largest fleet holding servicing the Highlands and Islands.
In addition to these significant investments, GAP is currently searching for a new 8-acre site in the central belt of Scotland.
The past few years has also seen GAP expand their product offering which allows customers one point of contact for all of their equipment hire requirements. Two notable expansion areas include:
- The establishment of GAP’s Trenching & Shoring division following the acquisition of MV Trench Support in 2018. The acquisition has greatly extended the company’s product fleet and brought an additional wealth of trenching and shoring experience to the company.
- At the beginning of 2020, GAP announced a £2m investment to launch their tenth division – Tanker Services. The division offers a range of emptying and cleaning options for septic and wastewater tanks. With a large fleet of welfare tankers ranging from 4x4, 3.5t, 7.5t and now 26t, GAP can empty, clean and sanitise toilets, welfare vans, mobile and static welfare units and supply water fills across the country.