In 1982 GTAccess was known as Geoff Till Electrical Contractors (GTE). Geoff Till needed to use access equipment to help with electrical installations. At the the time it was difficult to hire access equipment – so GTE bought its own access equipment.
Seeing the difficulty in hiring access equipment as an opportunity, GTE opened a rental division ‘Geoff Till Access Platforms’.
Over the following 10 years Geoff Till Access grew slowly to 5 Depots and 350 access machines. In 1999 we made our first aquisition, aquiring the powered access division of Gloucesters Giraffe Access.
In 2005 Geoff Till Access changed its name to GTAccess Ltd and saw a rationalisation with the number of depots reducing to 2.
After a period of consolidation GTAccess invests £1.2 million in new access platforms.
GTAccess becomes a founding member of the Access Alliance, a collaboration of some of the UK and Ireland’s strongest independently owned regional powered access rental companies.
A period of rapid growth starts with the aquisition in January of Hereford based Plat4ms gaining an additional 50 machines and a new branch location for GTAccess.
In July GTAccess aquired Swift Access, gaining 150 machines and a new branch in Stoke on Trent.
In August we purchased Hire to Higher in Oswestry gaining another branch location and a further 80 machines.
After 3 takeovers in just 7 months GTAccess increases to 5 depots and 607 access machines. Our total investment during 2011 exceeds £4 million.
We relocate our Oswestry depot down the road to to a new site in Shrewsbury.
Our expansion continues with the purchase of 20 new Genie Booms and 20 of the new Genie GS4047 high-level 14 metre narrow scissor lifts. This is the first order that Genie have taken anywhere in the world for this new specialised scissor.
Our fleet size approaches 700 machines, making us one of the largest independent access companies in the UK.
Our Head Office and Bromsgrove depot expands with the aquisition of the 12,000 square foot facility adjacent to our existing site. Our current building was demolished to allow for a much needed expansion to the yard area.
2014 saw a large expansion in the size of our fleet increasing from 700 platforms in January to just over 1000 platforms in July. In Novemeber we took delivery of the UK’s very first Niftylift Height Rider 28 (HR28) Hybrid 4×4 from Milton Keynes based access platform manufacturer Niftylift.
We are the first company within the UK to receive the new and improved Haulotte Star 10s following the models launch at Intermat. These and other new machines increase our fleet to more than 1200 machines.
We launch the GTA Secure™ system which allows users of our powered access platforms to control access and monitor real time machine location and status information live from any internet connected computer, smartphone or tablet.
Find out more about GTA Secure.
Furthering our commitment to becoming more energy efficient we install 120, 30kW photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on the roof of our Bromsgrove Head Office. The power generated by the solar panels is used to recharge all of our electric machines, as well as providing electricity for the offices and workshops.
We gain ISO9001 accreditation
We launch a new online system for booking training courses. The system allows customers to see real-time availability of training courses and allows them to book and pay for places any time of day or night.
We completely update our older fleet of 19' to 32' scissors with the purchase of 250 skyjack scissor lifts that see our fleet increase in size to over 1400 access platforms making GTAccess the 9th Largest Powered Access Company in the UK.
Our fleet is now touching 1600 platforms and GTAccess has become the 6th Largest Powered Access Company in the UK and the largest Powered Access Company in the Greater Midlands and Wales area.
GTAccess open a new depot in Bridgend, South Wales increasing our locations to 6 and our employee count to 102.
We win the Hereford & Worcester Chamber of Commerce Business Award for 'Excellence in Innovation' for our GTA Secure™ system.
We are shortlisted as a finalist for the ‘Employer of the Year’ category of the Hereford and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Awards 2018.
We relocate our Stoke depot to a much larger site which allows us to meet the increased demand for powered access equipment across the region. The new sites Training facilities will enable us to run even more IPAF and First Aid courses as well as allowing us to offer PASMA courses at this depot for the first time.
In April our Hereford depot moved to its new home in Eardisley. The new empty site at 9,300 Sqm was more than 6 times the size of our previous Hereford site. We installed a 2,000 sqm two storey office and training centre and constructed a 460 Sqm workshop facility. These new facilities and larger yard area allowed us to run more platforms, trucks and training courses including PASMA courses for the first time at our Hereford depot.
Continuing our ambitous growth strategy we acquired powered access rental company Extreme Hire in August 2019. The deal gave us two new depots in Shepperton and Hailsham, strengthening our presence in the South East. The aquisition increased our fleet size to over 2000 platforms as well as bringing new capability in the form of truck mounted booms with working heights up to 48 metres and a range of Telehandlers.
At this years Birmingham Business Excellence Awards, GTAccess were crowned the Winner of the ‘Family Business of the Year’ Award. The Birmingham Business Excellence Awards aim to celebrate success, recognise achievement and highlight the innovative people and companies throughout Birmingham who are putting their region on the map by boosting the economy while making a positive contribution to the local community.
In May at the height of the worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic we introduced our 'No-Touch' signing system for platform deliveries. The system allowed for delivery documentation and Signature capture to be handled on a recipients’ own smartphone or other device. Part of a long term goal to digitise and increase efficiencies within the business it was rolled out early to help reduce social contact during platform deliveries ensuring everyones safety.
In August our Gloucester branch moved from its original location in Haresfield to a much bigger and better site close to the centre of Gloucester. The larger depot brought an increase in yard area which would allow for greater scope to run more access platforms, delivery trucks and training courses than previously possible.
We launch our new online customer portal giving customers access to their platform hire account anytime at their convienience not ours. MyGTA™ connects to our backend hire systems and provides live account information including a list of whats on hire, invoices and hire prices.
Learn more about MyGTA™
We update our delivery fleet with new trucks and a new look. New Iveco S-Way tractor units in satin black with a striking red grill. The first of 7 new trucks to be supplied this year.
Our expansion continues with the aquisition in June of Bedfordshire based Neon Hire Services which adds a further 5 depots in Luton, Peterborough, Brentwood, Central London and a sub depot at the NEC in Birmingham. Our fleet size increases to 2,700 machines with the addition of 500 access platforms, 200 push around verticals and a variety of forklifts, diggers and material handling equipment as a result of this aquisition.
Learn more about the Neon Hire aquisition.