Richard Percival of Carigiet Cowen recently negotiated the acquisition of new Story Contracting Depot in Yorkshire
Carlisle construction and rail business Story Contracting has opened a new branch in Yorkshire as part of expansion plans.
The construction company, which diversified into rail and plant hire 10 years ago, has opened a depot in Normanton, near Wakefield, with a yard and workshops.
A spokeswoman said it was “a carbon copy” of their Carlisle base and would enable them to do work in the Normanton area without having to haul plant back to Carlisle.
“Story Contracting continue to invest in the development of their business and this goes for the Carlisle base too,” she said. “Over the past 18 months, the fleet of RRVs and associated attachments has increased considerably and there has also been considerable investment in new vans and lorries.”
She said the company intended to increase its output in the Yorkshire area and was spreading its wings. Its base there will focus on railway civil engineering.
Mike Halliday, rail director with Story Contracting, said: “It always helps being close to your customer and having a base in Normanton will consolidate our team in the north east and allow them to continue the good work carried out in this region.
“This new office will give us a firm base and the ability to be readily on hand to meet our clients’ requirements and aspirations.”
The company this year beat some of the giants of the construction industry to be named top-performing contractor on Britain’s railways.
Network Rail, the state-owned company responsible for track, stations and signalling, scores all contracts worth more than £50,000 on its Prism performance matrix.
The Cumbrian firm was the best of 38 contractors assessed in 2012-13.
It finished ahead of major players such as Mott MacDonald, Birse, Kier Group, Tata Steel, Balfour Beatty, Arup, Carillion, Morgan Sindall, Babcock, Atkins, Siemens and Amey.
Story Contracting did £15 million of rail-related work in 2012-13, employing up to 160 staff on the West Coast Main Line, Carlisle-Settle route and throughout Scotland.