We were operating out of Edinburgh successfully and looking to expand. We found a man who wanted to set up our Glasgow branch and so we ventured into Glasgow.
Our manager found some premises which were in Salkeld St which is just outside the centre of Glasgow. After the purchase had gone through in late 1999 I met the architect up there with the intention of redesigning the premises. I decided to drive. It is about a 5 hour drive, when I got there at about 12:00 o’clock I decided to lift a manhole. I pulled my back and then had to drive back another five hours with my back that in a bad state.
The premises which had one point been some kind of a textile warehouse were a labyrinth of small rooms which were converted into various offices for different people to use. People were hired who turned out we’re all part of one big family although we didn’t really know it at the time and we started trading. After a slow start we won a contract to refurbish all of the Makro stores in the UK in an incredibly short time. It was incredibly risky but we pulled it off and we made some real money.
On one occasion I decided that I should look at some of the jobs that were going on in Scotland and the manager and I spent two days travelling around Scotland looking at the various jobs underway.
There was one job that we had almost completed at a luxury complex which had been converted from a monastery at Fort Augustus. The place was absolutely magnificent but the builder had gone bust twice and I was worried that we weren’t going to be paid. That turned out to be the case and we were never paid for it.
One other contract that I recall was with Carillion. I was really worried about Carillion but I was assured continuously that there were a new company and they would deal with us fairly. As ever this wasn’t the case, they didn’t pay we argued and we eventually arranged a settlement. At one point I got dragged up on a plane with the engineering director from Carillion to try and resolve the problems.
They did Christmas celebrations quite well and they introduced me to the idea of Secret Santa which I had never heard of. The day of the party started with Secret Santa and I flew up for that. With Secret Santa of course the drinking started at 10:00 o’clock in the morning. Then there was a meal at lunchtime in All Bar One and from there on in the celebrations went on all day and apparently all night. I decided to fly home, that day, and I got to Glasgow Airport with an hour to spare before the plane. To be sociable I’d had plenty to drink. So I was wandering around an airport desperately wanting to go to sleep but knowing that if I did I would miss the plane. In the end, I took to pacing up and down for the hour until I could get on the plane and then instantly fell asleep.,
They decided to hold an activity day for customers which they did on the banks of Loch Lomond at a hotel. I have to say it was a very enjoyable day apart from the paintballing. The balls hurt when they hit me and I never wanted to do it again. We did some rough driving with Land Rovers and that was enjoyable. We got back to the hotel, had a nice meal and then the drinking began in earnest before we all caught a coach back to the centre. They were chanting “David Hill, David Hill “ on the way back which shows how drunk they were. I caught the plane back home again and left them to their drinking.
Ultimately, though there was no control over the way the contracts were handled. Money was paid to subcontractors indiscriminately and cross booking of costs across jobs was almost obligatory.
We tried to find alternative personnel and parachute them, in but finding people who would work and deliver in such a difficult environment was very hard. We were still battling to control it when I ceased to be managing director and eventually, it got closed out. SEC immediately quit the premises and they reverted back to me in 2008
I ended up letting the premises for a couple of years to First Engineering before eventually selling it. We got back pretty much what we had paid.