Established in 1965, near Ludlow in Shropshire, Clee Hill Plant started out life as a transport business hauling crushed stone from local quarries to motorway construction sites. This soon led to a decision by the owner to diversify into the hire of plant surfacing and compaction equipment. By 1989 the company turnover had grown to £2m with 30 employees. For the first half of its life Clee Hill Plant was privately owned by the aptly named Plant family but in 1989 it was acquired by NSM plc, a large industrial group whose core business was mining and the extraction of coal and other minerals. Under NSM management the company opened new depots in Chesterfield (1991) and Darlington (1992) and by 1997 its turnover had grown to £4m with 58 employees. Clee Hill’s management led to a management buyout in May 1997.
Newton Abbot has always been a target location for the business with it’s closest depot currently being Andover as it has existing contracts in the area. The company has taken a long lease on the Newton Abbot site. Pepper Commercial acted for the investor who bought the site at tender and then identified and negotiated with Clee Hill for the new lease.