A fast-growing self-storage company has carried out a major expansion at its Chester area hub at Saltney.
Denbigh-based Lock Stock Self-Storage is the UK’s biggest containerised storage company and they have increased the number of containers on their site at River Lane by almost 30 per cent to 360.
The £150,000 redevelopment has involved the acquisition of an extra piece of land and as well as a new entrance the company’s Chester office has now moved to River Lane from its previous home in Saltney High Street.
It is part of a major expansion across their 18 sites in North Wales and the border counties that should see them commission their 3,000th container this year
Lock Stock Director Nick Powell said:
“We have added 80 extra containers to the site here in Saltney which represents a big investment in this site and a huge increase on the original site on Boundary Lane which had 78 containers.
“Like all our developments it has been an organic expansion based on local demand and we have seen a considerable increase in this area of our operations in the last 18 months and we have responded.
“We have added new sites in Flint and Wrexham, where we now have two storage parks, and have also increased capacity at Mold.
“It also made sense to move the area office to the container storage site on River Lane and we have also seen an increase in van hire from Saltney where we also sell fireworks.”
The 80 new containers are being trucked onto the new site by lorry and Lock Stock have used computer-aided design to ensure the layout permits round the clock access to all the units.
Lock Stock paint their containers a uniform dark green and use computer-aided design for the optimum layout for each of their sites. Each container is eight feet high by eight feet wide and they come in 10, 20 and 40 foot lengths.
Their sites feature security fencing and lighting and 24-hour passcode access while the Chinese-made steel containers are insulated and watertight and have arrived in the UK from the Far East on a one-way ocean voyage carrying imported goods from China.
It is the latest stage of a phased expansion which has already seen it open new storage parks, at Holyhead and Wrexham this year and expand at four of its other sites, at Llandudno, Bangor, Mold and Oswestry.
The Saltney site is popular with local businesses with 60 per cent of the rentals taken by a diverse range of companies including tradesmen, carpet fitters, mail order and even a CD dealer.
Lock Stock Operations Manager Stuart Bowker said: “We are responding to demand. We are finding that our existing sites are receiving more and more enquiries for storage space and we are reacting to meet that demand.
“We also look to see where the demand is coming from and if it is from somewhere like Saltney where we need more capacity then we look at extending our existing premises and happily that has been possible here.”
Lock Stock’s van hire business operates from Saltney and its two other main hubs, at Llandudno and Rhyl where also sell fireworks.
Their containers are rented by people moving house or keeping treasured possessions and by small businesses and Nick Powell added: “Containers are an ideal solution for small and emerging businesses.
“There are no business rates or service charges and with three different sizes of units they’re ideal whether people are looking to grow or to downsize.
“Often businesses can operate from a self storage unit and that is one reason we plan our sites very carefully so that our tenants can easily access their units 24/7.”
Their current planned expansion will give Lock Stock 3,000 containers at its sites by the end of this year –with a total storage capacity of over four million cubic feet.
Lock Stock, which employs 16 staff, was launched in 1998 by brothers Nick and Shon Powell as an off-shoot of the family’s well-known Craig Bragdy ceramic design and installation company.
Their existing sites stretch from Bangor along the North Wales coast at Llandudno and Rhyl, on the Dee at Flint and Chester and inland at Denbigh, Mold, Wrexham and Newtown in Powys, and at Oswestry and Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
