On behalf of private investor clients Pepper Commercial have acquired the former Hewden Hire Depot at Chudleigh Road, Preston Cross, Newton Abbot. The depot comprises 476.03 sq.m. (5,124 sq.ft.) of workshop space on approximately 1 acre of open storage land. The freehold site was bought at competitive tender.
Hewden Hire collapsed in the later half of 2016
The Guardian newspaper reported in November 2016:
Unions fear hundreds of jobs are at risk after administrators were called into plant hire group Hewden, which has blamed uncertainty caused by Brexit for its financial predicament.
Accountants EY immediately made 251 of the 750-strong workforce redundant. Many of those who lost their jobs were crane operators.
Some 133 were transferred to Ashtead Plant Hire (A-Plant) which bought parts of the operation for £29m. The remainder are currently being kept on, in part to help service Hewden’s 40 plant hire depots across the UK.This is a sickening blow for workers in the run up to Christmas and is the result of a succession of venture capitalists hawking Hewden around the market over a number of years to make a quick buck,” said Unite national officer Bernard McAulay, who mainly represents crane operators at Hewden.
The Manchester-based heavy machinery rental firm was owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners and in October had warned about “market uncertainty following the vote to leave the EU” which had adversely affected a number of large construction and investment projects.