After celebrating its tenth anniversary last year, Synergy Lifting Solutions was able to look back at a decade of growth that has been powered by its ability to solve problems for its clients. This approach has seen the Glasgow-based company continually add new strings to its bow, as Douglas Hill, Group Managing Director, recently outlined to Construction Industry News.
“We started out in 2014 primarily to provide an alternative to the majority of crane hire companies that mainly seemed geared to hiring crane and operator only and letting the client plan and execute their lift,” explains Douglas, who co-owns the business with wife, Heather Hill. “At the same time, ever more stringent health and safety regulations meant these clients were also having to increase their investment in staff training, so many wanted to avoid the risk altogether and outsource the Contract element entirely. Despite this, the onus was still on the client to do the lift plan, create the method statement, attach the loads and provide the necessary insurance required to satisfy the requirements of a contract lift.
“Due to the increasing responsibility on businesses requiring cranes, we felt there was a gap in the market we could capitalise on. Even though we didn’t own any cranes ourselves, we had the skilled labour to operate and carry out the contract element for them. We could therefore hire the crane for the client and effectively manage the full package: from planning through to executing a lift, as well as looking after all the insurance.”
Keen to build on its original idea, Synergy expanded its offering by hiring lorries, enabling it to provide transportation for clients. This allowed the company to broaden its horizons away from its traditional heartland in the West of Scotland, venturing south of the border to meet the lifting and transport requirements of its customers as they expanded across the UK.
Due to the success of its diversification, Synergy soon outgrew its original premises in Greenock, prompting a move to a site in Glasgow. These larger facilities housed additional storage space, which enabled the company to store equipment for clients that wasn’t site ready. “We can offload the units at our premises before delivering and installing them onsite when ready,” says Douglas. “This led to the creation of a dedicated storage business, Synergy Space, which is effectively a trading division of Synergy Lifting Solutions.”
Growing demand for Synergy’s expanding suite of services necessitated another move in 2019, this time to a 10,000 sq ft site in Hillington Park in Glasgow. At the same time, the workforce was increased to 25 people, helping the company to further develop its lifting, transport and haulage operations across the UK.
Once again underlining its ability to spot an opportunity, Synergy’s next expansion was into training, as Douglas outlines: “We recognised that construction is an ageing industry, as not much young blood was coming through the school leaving system. We therefore started Synergy Training Solutions in 2019, which is all about giving youngsters a chance to develop a career in construction. We also introduced a range of other industry-related courses focused on areas such as first aid, working in confined spaces, working at height, and fire safety.”
Following the creation of the training division, further diversification was on the cards when Synergy became involved with construction projects in the car rental market, part of which required moving sales units around the country. “We initially carried out transportation for the client, but they also had a need for civil engineering works when setting up their sites at airports. This was something we could help with, so we started our own civil engineering arm, Synergy Industrial Solutions, to carry out all the groundworks, all the surfacing works and white lining, etc. Our lifting division is also on hand to lift all the required elements into place, enabling us to provide a complete ‘cradle to grave’ service on projects valued up to £5m.
“The success of these Industrial projects culminated in the creation of Synergy Industrial Solutions in 2020, launching around the time of the Covid outbreak. This was a challenging period initially, but we came through the other side and continued to grow, increasing the workforce to over 40 full-time employees. This figure has grown slightly since and we now have around 46 staff.”
Thanks to the various specialisms within the group, Synergy operates all over the UK in numerous sectors within the construction industry. These include MoD, nuclear, airports, manufacturing, food and retail, petrochemical and energy services. This diversity has helped drive turnover towards the £9m-mark.
Despite having come through the Covid pandemic unscathed and the impressive success it has enjoyed since, Synergy continues to face challenges, the most recent of which have been associated with the General Election. “Any change in government results in uncertainty within the marketplace and a reduction in capital expenditure generally, which obviously affects confidence and leads to cost cutting,” highlights Douglas. “We’re facing a significant challenge this year with the hike in National Insurance, but this is the same for every business.
“There are always going to be external issues, but as long as we continue to provide a strong service, work will be available. We also enjoy substantial levels of repeat business thanks to the highest standards we adhere to.
“Staff retention and managing new talent coming into the company are other hurdles. This is why we’re putting so much emphasis on our training school. Helping youngsters through apprenticeships in order to secure the qualifications they need to get onsite and shadow senior operatives is key.
“It’s all about getting the right people in the right places. We’ve got a strong emphasis on the senior management team to make sure they’re delivering the quality that is so essential in securing repeat business. We don’t have a sales team as such, as sales has changed beyond all recognition in recent years, so building long lasting relationships are crucial. Gone are the days when you could just walk into a potential client’s business with a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and ask to speak to the buyer. Everything is now done through e-mail procurement. We therefore use market intelligence to stay ahead of the game and generate enquiries by finding out what’s available and what building work is being scheduled.
“As well as having the right people to build close links with our customers, the same approach applies to our supply chain. We have excellent suppliers drawn from all over the UK. As we don’t own cranes per se, we have formed alliances with crane hire companies to maximise their equipment by adding our own skills and experience to the mix. They could do three or four contract lifts a day because of their limited ability to provide skilled staff, whereas we’ve got a bank of 30 operators that are all trained up ready to go. This capacity has been integral to the growth we’ve seen.”
Even with the phenomenal progress that Synergy has made and its increasing workload, the company quite rightly still found the time to celebrate its tenth anniversary last year. In September it held a ball at Òran Mór, a former church in Glasgow that has been transformed into a luxury events venue,
“We invited all our staff, our key supply chain partners and our top tier customers to the evening and there were over 140 guests in attendance,” says Douglas. “We had a live PA, a DJ and K-Klass provided the music, so there was plenty of dancing. It was a fantastic night and a fitting tribute to everyone who has played a role in our journey so far.”
Typical of a ‘work hard, play hard’ philosophy, the evening wasn’t all about celebration, however, as it also heralded the launch of Synergy’s rebrand. “We have added so many subsections to the business that we felt rebranding from Synergy Lifting Solutions to Synergy Group would better reflect the different services we now provide. The anniversary ball was therefore not only about celebrating how far we’ve come as a company, but also an opportunity to outline our vision for the future.
“Having come so far, our aim for the next 12 months is to consolidate our position as one of the biggest privately owned construction companies in Scotland and to keep expanding throughout the UK. As we’ve diversified our services, we’ve also moved into a growing number of sectors, to the extent that we’re now involved in seven or eight different markets. This means that if we see a dip in one, another tends to pick up. Not having all our eggs in one basket is definitely an advantage.
“While we’re keen to consolidate the services we have already established and maximise their potential, we continue to explore other ways of adding value for our customers. We are a truly holistic business, so want to maintain our ‘one stop shop’ ethos. We want to remove as much hassle for our clients as we possibly can with just one phone call.”
This approach has clearly worked well for Synergy over the past decade and is sure to continue doing so in the months and years ahead. It already has plans in the pipeline for new services, although these are being kept under wraps for the time being, so watch this space.