Member Article

Major new site for leading self-storage business

Parsons Containers Group has acquired a major new Darlington site for its U Hold The Key self-storage business. The 5.2 acre site is part of an expansion that will see the number of stores that the company operates increase by almost 50%. In a response to a growing demand for its services, the firm has opened the site on the A66 to serve customers in Darlington and on Teesside. The company now operates on 10 sites in the North East and Lincolnshire.

The Parsons Containers Group of companies is one of the region’s leading shipping container businesses, and has been operating since 2000. The group is based in Sedgefield, County Durham, and also includes Parsons Containers Ltd which sells standard and bespoke containers, and online brands ContainerContainer and ContainersNow, which sell containers nationwide. The new site on the A66 will also become a hub for the sale and supply of containers.

U Hold The Key is rolling out three new container self-storage sites in the North East, in Sunderland, Mainsforth (near Ferryhill, just off the A1 in County Durham) and on the A66 approach to Darlington. The move is a response to the continued demand for container self-storage and the new sites will give the company a capacity of 1,500 stores, up from the current figure of around 1,000. The A66 site at Darlington is an important strategic location, offering customers in the town, Teesside, and across the North East and North Yorkshire, easy access secure self-storage on a main arterial route.

U Hold The Key general manager Jane Skilbeck comments: “This expansion is driven by the well-established success of our business model, which is based on delivering inexpensive, easily accessible and very flexible self-storage that is available 24 hours a day. U Hold The Key has been around for 15 years and we now have a large and loyal existing customer base. Many of those customers have been with us for a number of years and it is clear that what we offer is a vital service that supports a local economy.

“Storage is a necessity for a lot of individuals and businesses and we offer a secure and convenient solution. Our new sites near Darlington, in Sunderland and at Mainsforth mean that we can now bring our facilities for domestic and business storage to new areas and build on our industry leading position. The location and size of the Darlington site and the fact that it will also be a hub for sales means that it is a very significant addition to our business.”

The Parsons Containers Group has developed a reputation for innovating in the field of containers and self-storage. Parsons Containers continues to specialise in producing bespoke containers for a wide variety of applications, while U Hold The Key recently launched a mobile app to help customers identify the right type and location of storage for their own requirements, and book and pay for that using their smartphone or other device. Parsons has also supplied container solutions to support major events in the region, such as Lumiere in Durham, and most recently, the Tall Ships in Blyth.

As well as being a self-storage and container sales facility, the Darlington site will also become multi-use. The Parsons Group plans to develop workshop, retail and café outlets there, to complement the company’s core activities.

U Hold The Key offers 24/7 access to its 10 secure sites in the North East and Lincolnshire and is a market leader in container self-storage. For more information about the company, visit www.uholdthekey.co.uk, email enquiries@uholdthekey.co.uk, call 0800 389 4319, follow @UHoldTheKey_UK on Twitter or like www.facebook.com/UHoldTheKey.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Lines .