Further acquisitions by the parent group of Suffolk vehicle hire brand Trucks ‘R’ Us are on the cards following its latest diversification, into the demolition sector.

Ipswich Star: CDC demolotion machinery behind a Trucks 'R' Us tractor unit.CDC demolotion machinery behind a Trucks 'R' Us tractor unit. (Image: Archant)

Trucks ‘R’ Us and sister company Tippers ‘R’ Us, which offers site clearance and haulage as well as hire, are part of the TRU7 group, based at Sinks Pit, Kesgrave.

The group’s relocation to the former quarry site last year, from its former base in Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, also resulted in the launch of BagAgg, a new business supplying aggregates produced by recycling building waste.

TRU7 has now expanded further with the acquisition of the Clarke Demolition Company (CDC) which is currently based at Waldringfield, near Woodbridge, and offers an opportunity for the more waste to be fed into the recycling plant at Sinks Pit.

TRU7 managing director Guy Nicholls - “TRU stands for Trucks ‘R’ Us and seven was my dad’s lucky number”, he explains - said the recycling business had grown out of a need to clear material from the quarry site ahead of the construction of the group’s new offices.

Ipswich Star: CDC demolotion machinery behind a Trucks 'R' Us tractor unit.CDC demolotion machinery behind a Trucks 'R' Us tractor unit. (Image: Archant)

The addition of CDC is another logical extension, particularly as Mr Nicholls has known the Clarke family since his school days.

David Clarke, a former president of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, will remain with the CDC business along with its entire staff of around 30, bringing the total workforce across the TRU7 group to more than 100.

CDC’s office-based staff will move to Kesgrave by the end of this month, with entire business relocating from Waldringfield next year once a new bulding has been built alongside the existing TRU7 headquarters. Mr Nicholls also plans to invest around £5m in new equipment for CDC during the first half of next year.

And he adds that further expansion is planned. This is likely to include further acquisitions which, like the CDC deal, will be funded by the group from its own resources, following the sale in August 2015 of Fork Rent which the Nicholls family grew into a national business and is now part of Ardent Hire.

However, Mr Nicholls also plans to return to the heavy earth moving equipment market when a 30-month non-competition clause agreed as part of the sale of Fork Rent expires in February, with the plan being to offer operated plant as well as plant hire.