IN CONVERSATION
What challenges have you faced in the industry?
BLAKE DAVIS JOINT OWNER & MANAGING DIRECTOR OF DAVIS TRACKHIRE Blake Davis is the joint Owner and Managing Director of Davis Trackhire Ltd – the UK’s largest independent supplier of portable aluminium roadway. After leaving school and working in his family’s leisure business for more than a decade, he and his older brother Travis saw a gap in the market and set up Davis Trackhire in 2010.
One of the challenges we have faced is how we manage and control the company growth. Over the last four years we have done this by creating a senior management team with a wealth of experience in the industry. This has led to an improved business structure and process and, when coupled with our continual employee training programmes, has enabled us to attract and create the best and most skilled operatives in in the industry. These training programmes especially helped post covid with the national HGV driver shortage. On top of this we have now implemented new schemes and training matrices across the business that continually upskill all employees. The ever-evolving health and safety requirements throughout the industries we work (especially within HS2) in has also resulted in significant investment into enhanced training for all of our staff, both internal and external. We have introduced further training for our engineers, supervisors and crews including IOSH Managing Safely, Appointed Person, Lift Supervisors, SSSTS Site Supervisor and GS6 overhead power lines, much of which was previously outsourced. Working in many different industries we are now able to provide our clients with all the necessary health and safety requirements in house, supported with our health and safety consultants. How has technology developed since you started in the industry?
DAVIS TRACKHIRE LTD Family owned and operated since 2010, Davis Trackhire has quickly gained a reputation among the Construction and Events sectors as one of the most professional, reliable and customerfocused temporary access suppliers in the industry. The company offers a fully comprehensive and competitive nationwide service from its depots in Glasgow and Retford. Want to know more about Davis Trackhire? Tel: 01698352751 Email: info@davistrackhire.com Visit: www.davistrackhire.com
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At Davis Trackhire we are continually looking to utilise new technologies to improve all areas of the business. One of the main leaps forward in the operation has been the use of the remote control for the lorry mounted cranes along with the ‘trackway clamp’. Coupled together they help
create a safer and more productive method of work than we previously used. Each truck is fitted with state-of-the-art CCTV and safety systems to aid the drivers on and off site. On board digital technology is utilised by drivers to allow checks of equipment/ vehicles and Risk Assessments that gives ‘live’ information into the fleet management systems for the logistics and scheduling teams. All put together this helps give a slicker and safer operation. With the growth of the business has come the need for greater information handling and so we now have a bespoke hire management system that has improved the hiring processes, automated tasks and helps manage data effectively. This also integrates with other IT software to give highly detailed reporting to assist the team to make the right decisions going forward. When did you first start the company? The Davis Trackhire story started in the winter of 2010, which was the second of two incredibly cold winter seasons. My brother Travis and I had been working in the family business, before opting to leave to pursue pastures new in February 2010. We tried our hand at a few different things, including marquee hire and commercial office and factory clearances. It was during one of the latter operations that by chance we happened upon 200 portable roadway panels in a scrap yard. As Travis and I both held a C+E licence and crane tickets and were already familiar with Trackway having encountered it before during our time in the family business, ideas began forming rapidly and before we knew it, we had struck a deal to buy the panels. We purchased our first truck soon after – a second hand Volvo FM 420 4x2 rigid with Atlas rear-mounted crane an SDC trailer. All of a sudden we had the early makings of what would eventually go on to become the UK’s largest independent supplier of portable aluminium roadway.