RSS Expands in Warrington

Rope and Sling Specialists Ltd. (RSS) has almost doubled the size of its facility in Warrington, located in between Liverpool and Manchester in the northwest of England.

March 26, 2024

The lifting and rigging company opened Warrington — one of 10 UK facilities — six years ago and it has grown steadily to the point where the Hardwick Grange site was too small. An adjacent building became available and connecting both in an expansion to over 9,000 square feet will enable RSS to triple stock levels.

The expansion project has taken three months and represented £50k of investment in improvements to the combined buildings, which includes offices, a canteen, and a state-of-the-art training room; additional budget was allocated to inventory, including approximately £40k on off-the-shelf equipment, such as heavy-lift slings and chain blocks.

Stephen Littler, regional manager at RSS, said: “The expansion will allow the business to achieve our growth plans, supported by increased office space and higher stock levels, both of which are important as we continue to serve the utility, major railway, waste-to-energy, large-scale infrastructure, and heavy-lift crane sectors.”

A prerequisite for expansion was keeping the existing Warrington depot fully operational, utilising a makeshift office on a temporary basis. In the short term, nine staff will continue to work across the expanded site, located just minutes from the M6 motorway, with Manchester, Merseyside, North Wales, Preston, Cheshire, and Cumbria all within easy reach.

Littler, who joined four-and-a-half years ago, added: “The depot has significantly grown year-on-year and the forecast for this [year] looks really promising. The expansion will empower us, in time, to employ more staff and, combined with other facets of our development, provide an even faster, better service to the point of use. The new training room will supplement our offering, contributing to a one-stop lifting and rigging operation.”

The Warrington operation will enable existing and prospective customers to source anything from a 1t capacity sling to continuing professional development (CPD) and accredited training. Like other RSS facilities, it will leverage Gemmak Engineering Ltd., the company’s fabrication site, situated near de facto headquarters in Pyle, Wales — also a manufacturing hub.

Steve Hutin, managing director at RSS, said: “Expanding Warrington is just the latest in a series of steps we are taking to enhance the profile of our company and, more importantly, equip it to serve a client-base that continues to grow in breadth and scale. We’ve already made public our plans to invest £1m over the next two years in opening three new locations — but we will simultaneously search for ways to improve longstanding depots where necessary.”