08.12.2008

Hewden details closures

Hewden, one of the UK’s leading equipment rental companies announced the closure or merger of 22 branches and loss of 213 jobs on Friday.

The cutbacks are part of the restructuring that Finning, its parent company, announced last month and will include the integration of the cranes and access divisions with the rest of the business.

Hewden currently operates from 102 depots and employs 1,750 staff before these changes, which will be completed by the end of March 2009.

12 depots will be closed in Barrow in Furness, Cambridge, Elgin, Heathrow, Isle of Wight, Jersey, Melksham, Redditch, Chester, Shrewsbury, Thatcham and Yeovil.

In addition a further 10 depots will be merged with nearby locations and all assets and customers transferred. The branches that will be closed and transferred are Motherwell, Mount Vernon and Newarthill (all transferred into Glasgow Queenslie), Bathgate (merged into Edinburgh) Rotherham (combining with Barnsley), Warrington Great Sankey (merging with Warrington Appleton Thorn) Abergele (moving to Bangor) Cardiff (merging with the Cardiff Docks depot), Olney (Bedford) and Truro (consolidating with Redruth).

Announcing the re-structuring, Hewden executive director, Doug Sprout said:
“Everyone is aware of the rapid and unprecedented decline in the construction market which is hurting every plant hire company.”

“Our first concern is for our staff who will all be affected by these changes but we are also determined to maintain the best possible customer service during this restructuring.”