An Ipswich-based company that specialises in selling and hiring piling equipment celebrates 50 years in business.
Watson & Hillhouse, which has been providing pile driving equipment since 1972, built a worldwide reputation for its service and technical expertise.
The family-run business was founded half a century ago by Robin Watson and John Hillhouse, who opened the company to “provide the level of service to the clients that they should have”.
Mr Watson said: “I was always having ambitions of running my own company, and once I saw an opportunity in the market, I did so.
“Interestingly, within 10 years of me starting Watson & Hillhouse, the Ipswich branch of my previous employer closed.
“We believe that our size enables us to better serve our clients’ needs, much better than our competitors do.
“We also see our people as our strongest asset and have a long-standing practice of taking on apprentices and trainees which has been our life-blood.”
Starting with only five employees, the company now hires 31 people, including most of the managers and senior staff who started their careers at Watson & Hillhouse as apprentices decades ago.
Over the years, the Ipswich firm has been providing equipment for some big projects, including the Orwell Bridge, Thames Barrier, Channel Tunnel, Heathrow Terminal 5, Sizewell B and London 2012 Olympics parks.
The purchase value of the company’s assets estimates at £12m.
The owner of the company said: “We are definitely known for the quality of the products we represent and high-level service we provide.
“We believe these factors have created our business which continues to be successful and that has grown steadily over time.
“Last year was very satisfying as it was our most successful year. We achieved a combined level of hire and sales that we had never reached before.
“It enabled us to achieve our corporate targets in terms of market share, turnover and profitability.”
Mr Watson said that the lockdown was a “challenging” time for his company, however, most of the construction work continued.
“There was also some positive outcome of the pandemic. It gave us the opportunity to look closely at many of our systems and processes, which have been improved and updated, and all our staff are now set up to work from home,” he added.
Watson & Hillhouse company wishes to “grow and expand” during the next 50 years.
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