CoolKit rises from ashes of fire and relocates to Blackburn

CoolKit, has signed an agreement for a 75,000 sq ft site in Whitebirk, Blackburn, eight miles away from its fire-ravaged unit in Burnley.

As a robust recovery plan was instigated immediately following the fire in July – which enabled production to resume at the company’s second unit within days of the disaster – founder and chief executive Rupert Gatty put out an urgent appeal for new premises.

East Lancashire’s business community rallied to CoolKit’s support, and the company has found an ideally situated site in Thornley Avenue, off Carl Fogarty Way, Blackburn, previously the home of Kenyon Transport.

CoolKit has already started to move some production to the Blackburn site, with the plan to have the entire business relocated within the next few months.

The fire at CoolKit's site in Burnley (Image: NQ Staff/Submitted)

Mr Gatty said: “We are sorry to be leaving Burnley but the opportunity to move onto such a large site, which is only 300 metres from Junction 6 of the M65, was just too good to miss.

“The layout is perfect for our future strategy.”

Last year, CoolKit recorded sales orders of £20.1m – an increase of 60 per cent on their previous year – and despite the blaze, it is still expected to report a further record period this financial year.

Mr Gatty, who founded CoolKit in 2005, added: “We can arrange the site so that we will have from one side deliveries coming in, a stores section, the manufacturing unit, a pre-delivery inspection area and then our conversions will go straight out of the door.

“All of the present workforce of 100-plus will be transferred over the next few months to the new premises.”

A recruitment drive to boost the staffing by 20 per cent was put on hold following the fire but is expected to be relaunched in the autumn to address the requirements for the bulging order book.

Mr Gatty continued: “Another benefit of the new site is that it opens up our travel-to-work catchment area for both production and administration staff.

"Previously we relied mainly on Burnley, Pendle and Hyndburn and now we can open that up to the towns of Blackburn, Chorley and Preston too because of our close proximity to the M65.”

CoolKit has already discussed with staff who don’t drive that they are prepared to lay on private bus travel to take them from Burnley to Blackburn.

Mr Gatty went on: “We don’t want to lose any of our present staff. They have responded tremendously to the challenge of keeping up the production in recent weeks despite the disaster.

“Only a few months ago we hadn’t a clue what was going to happen to the business. But within a few days, thanks to our MD, Daniel Miller and the rest of our executive team implementing a swift and robust recovery plan, and our admin and manufacturing teams executing it with lots of energy and drive, we are now moving into a very exciting future for CoolKit.

“We would also like to extend our thanks to estate agents, Taylor Weaver and our new landlord, Carolis for their efforts and support in finding, letting us view and securing the site so quickly.”

Recently, CoolKit won the TCS&D Refrigerated Panel Van of the Year, What Van? Converter of the Year 2023 award and the Insider Media ‘Made In The UK’ Best Automotive, Aerospace and Rail 2023 Award.

The judges said: “CoolKit’s innovative builds with a link to high quality products, linked to customer aftermarket support are the key factors in this sector. This company has ticked them all this year.”

CoolKit’s managing director Daniel Miller received the trophy at a glitzy awards evening at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.

He said: “This achievement stands as testament to our relentless dedication to innovation, outstanding collaborations with OEMs, and our unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries in the temperature-controlled transportation industry.”

The award comes just 12 weeks after the fire.