ABOUT THE ANDREWS SYKES GROUP

Journey through our enriching past and discover the interesting facts that have helped shape and define our company today. Our principles and values and quality of service were born from humble beginnings, more than 160 years ago, and made us into one of the most innovative and successful specialist hire companies in the UK today.

35 year old Henry Sykes came to London from Sheffield and established a small engineering business in Upper Thames Street. From his workshop, Henry Sykes was embarking on a journey that would see his company working on many of the Thames’ most high profile pumping schemes of the late 19th centurary.

The business transferred to the more prestigious location of 66 Bankside, Southwark, and began construction of the deep well pumps with which Sykes’ name was to become closely associated. Here he produced Portable Vertical Steam Engines, Portable Engines and Boilers, Friction Hoists and Pumps.

Founder Henry Sykes dies and his wife, Margaret Sykes, takes over the business.

Henry Sykes Jr, first son of Henry Sykes, takes control of the firm and introduces cousin Edmund Jackson into the business. For the next 40 years, Jackson contributed heavily to the business. Having a flair for mechanical design, Jackson would go on to design highly successful machines such as Pile-driving Winches, Contractors pumps, and the Tripulse – a three throw bucket pump.

Edmunds well-known patent friction clutch was incorporated in the firm’s Pile-driving Winches. The Jackson’s Clutch remains today substantially the same and it is generally recognised and popular among several contactors

The business continued to prosper and expand and in 1897 it was turned into a Private Limited Liability Company, the directors being Mrs. Margaret Sykes, Henry Sykes and Edmund Jackson with the shareholders all in the family.

A premises, with river frontage and wharf, were required for the making of new substantial works into the business. The 66 Bankside premises became the headquarters from which all the business was conducted.

Many of the company’s employees were called to arms during the first world war – with the company paying half their weekly salary and keeping their positions kept open while they were away on military or naval duty

Henry Sykes Ltd created machinery that would see England win against their enemies in the war. They designed and built special rolling-friction winches which were used for a large number of ‘Kite Balloons’ in the war. This portable winding gear ensured we could observe the position of enemies’ artillery and troop formations.

Henry Sykes Ltd bought 51 acres of land on the Greenwich marshes adjoining the Woolwich road at Charlton. Extensions and additions have been made from time to time to meet with the expanding business over the years.

Sykes plant helps to build the foundations of the site of Ford’s great motor works on the marshes in Dagenham, Essex. Sykes drove tens of thousands of reinforced concrete piles on which the whole of this world-famous factory was built.

Edmund Jackson remains in the business until his death at age 82. The machines he invented were not only uniformly successful but also pleasing to the eye, some of the first machines in the industry to be so.

At the outbreak of the second world war, the company provided a large number of winches for the erection of steel masts at points on the East and South coasts. Unknown to Henry Sykes at the time, they were to become the Radar installations that contributed heavily to our country’s survival.

Being based in London, Sykes were very much affected by the second world war as many of their men were called out for service, those who remained had to attend work 24 hours a day to protect the business in case of incendiary bomb attacks

Sykes Pumps plays a crucial part in Operation Overload and D-Day. When the MOD pumps failed to raise the sunken caissons, Sykes’ Pumps were quickly collected and used. Without the pumps, the Mulberry Harbours would not have floated. The Mulberry Harbours was one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the second world war.

In 1957, Sykes Pumps reached their one hundred year anniversary of continuous operation. In celebration of this milestone the company produced a centenary brochure, describing the evolution of Andrews Sykes into the UK’s leading hire specialist.

Henry Sykes reconstructs a new modern design facility in the Southwark offices. The company introduces its latest major development, the ‘Univac’ pump. This pump was evolved by adapting the priming arrangements used in the De-watering pump to Unchokeable pumps. This pump achieved great success and many pumping problems previously considered as verging on the impossible are now satisfactorily dealt with.

Many of the units manufactured in the 1960s are still in working order today – one of which being Nessie – a Sykes portable steam engine which was used during World War I

Sykes Pumps revolutionises pumping by introducing a fleet of self priming pumps called Univac. These pumps work as portable driven diesel pumps and overcome the toughest and most technically difficult applications in any industry.

Founder of Andrews Industrial Equipment, John Andrews established the idea for his business while on a business trip to the USA. Here, he discovered a company who manufactured steam cleaners and portable heaters who were seeking distributors in Europe. Seeing a business opportunity, John decides to purchase a small number of steam cleaners and portable heaters and import them to the UK to sell, the first steps to forming Andrews Industrial Equipment.

After being asked by a business associate to borrow one of the heaters, John decided to hire the heater out instead. From this came the idea to hire out as well as sell the equipment he had. This was a success and as demand for hire increased, John registered the name Andrews Heat for Hire. Within 5 years Andrews Industrial Equipment had grown dramatically, with depots in Wolverhampton, London, Glasgow, Nottingham.

After being asked by a business associate to borrow one of the heaters, John decided to hire the heater out instead. From this came the idea to hire out as well as sell the equipment he had. This was a success and as demand for hire increased, John registered the name Andrews Heat for Hire. Within 5 years Andrews Industrial Equipment had grown dramatically, with depots in Wolverhampton, London, Glasgow, Nottingham.

Until now, Andrews Industrial Equipment had been predominantly a winter business, John needed products to keep his ever expanding work force and depots busy during the summer months. While visiting a trade exhibition, John came across a small Italian company who manufactured portable air conditioning units. John immediately recognised the potential of hiring portable air conditioning units, setting up Andrews Air Conditioning for Hire as part of Andrews Industrial Equipment group.

The early 70’s also saw a rapid growth for air conditioning as office space expanded and computer rooms increased, this prompted John to create an installed Air Conditioning division.

Andrews Sykes BV opens in Holland. Located between Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, Andrews Sykes BV focuses on climate rental control. Today Andrews Sykes BV is the market leader with high standards of service in Holland.

As the company continued to grow, John Andrews opened an additional 25 depots, strategically located to give local service to the majority of the UK. During this year, John Andrews promotes his company through rally car racing. This proved to be a success for the company and the partnership between Andrews and the rally car he sponsored continued for 17 years, resulting in the longest single deal sponsorship in UK motor sport. The distinctive Andrews liveried cars got extensive coverage on TV and in the media put Andrews Heat for Hire and Andrews Air Conditioning for Hire in the spotlight. Even to this day customers still remember the Andrews rally cars.

Sykes Pumps takes business to Middle East for the first time merging with Khansaheb Civil Engineering L.L.C to become Khansaheb Sykes. A depot is opened in the United Arab Emirates in Sharjah. The lower ground water table of the country proves ideal for Sykes Pumps as they have the best experts in the country specialising in dewatering solutions.

In the same year, Oasis Sykes opened in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Specialising in dewatering, Oasis Sykes is today known as Sykes Dewatering whilst the depot in Dubai is known as Khansaheb Sykes Dewatering.

Sykes Pumps celebrated our 120th anniversary in 1977, launching their submersible pumps to the hire range

Being one of the only companies to bring submersible pumps into the pumping industry, they proved to be a hit. Ideal for dewatering at all kind of sites, the Submersible pump changed the way pumping worked forever. Growing from strength to strength, Submersible pumps now have their own division within the business called ‘Sykes Submersibles’.

Sykes Pumps flourishes in the Emirates and another depot is opened in Abu Dhabi. This depot is dedicated to dewatering contracts in the city.

John Andrews decides to retire from the business. Andrews Industrial Equipment is acquired by the Braithwaite Group. John Andrews remains in the business for 2 years to assist new CEO Andrew Fitton and new MD Peter Webber.

Braithwaite Group acquires Sykes Pumps and merges the two companies, forming what we are known as today: Andrews Sykes Hire Ltd.

Sykes assisted with the dewatering of the western quarry in Dartford to accommodate the Bluewater shopping centre in a location that had previously been under several meters of water. During this project, more than 300 litres a second were pumped on a 24hour basis over a mile from the site in to the Thames

In celebration of our 140th anniversary, Sykes produced a poster which was reprinted from an original advertisement from the 1800’s to mark the occasion

Construction to build one of the largest domes in the world commences this year. Due to be located on the Greenwich Peninsular, this dome was named ‘the Millennium Dome’ but is more widely known today as ‘the Dome’. Problems during construction arose as the land was contaminated by toxic sludge from the East Greenwich Gas Works that operated from 1889 to 1985. Our experts at Sykes Pumps worked at the Millennium Dome construction site for three years using submersible pumps to decontaminate the area.

Andrews Sykes introduces chillers and air handling equipment. The Chiller division has grown rapidly into a highly successful division offering wide and varied solutions to customer requirements.

Being pioneers in the pumping industry, Sykes Pumps introduces a revolutionary range of pumps called the super silenced pumps. Technically excellent, these pumps are powerful and have been developed with a clear focus on environmental issues such as sound reduction, the eradication of fuel spillage and fuel economy.

Andrews Sykes introduce packaged boilers. Andrews Boilers are designed to be as versatile as possible to cope with many varied applications, emergency break down of customers’ own boilers, under floor heating system, screed drying, domestic hot water requirements and many more.

Sykes Pumps celebrate their 150th anniversary. No other company has more expertise and heritage in pumping, de-watering and specialist fluid moving than Sykes. Since Henry Sykes established the business 1857, Sykes Pumps has grown to become the UK’s leading pump hire company. The anniversary was celebrated with a number of events and a special emblem.

Also in 2007, Andrews Sykes BV opened their 3rd depot in Holland. The new depot is located in Oirschot, which is in the south east of Holland, close to Eindhoven. Andrews Sykes BV has grown from strength to strength over recent years and this additional depot will help aid further expansion.

Andrews Sykes BVBA opens in Belgium, our first depot is located in Brussels and is positioned centrally to cover the whole of the country. The business works closely with our Dutch depots and provides expansion opportunities into Belgium for the first time.

Our depot network in the Netherlands expands once more with the 4th depot now in operation, situated in Hoogeveen, in the North East of Holland, we can now cover the whole of Holland within 3 hours from our network of depots.

2011 also sees an exciting new addition for the Andrews Sykes group in Europe as we open our first depot in Italy. The depot is situated in Milan and will focus on climate rental products. The company operates under the trading name of Nolo Climat. The location was specially chosen to provide coverage to Northern Italy and benefit from the vibrant economy in the Milanese region.

Andrews Sykes became shirts sponsors of Charlton Athletic football club; our main London depot is situated only minutes away from the Valley (Charlton Athletics home ground) in South East London. In recent years the company has built a strong relationship with the club and also the Charlton Athletic Community Trust.

Also in 2012 we opened our first depot in France. Andrews Sykes Climat Location opens for operation, this new depot is located in Lillle, Northern France. The French extension offers the full range range of Andrews air conditioning, heating, chiller, boiler, dehumidification and ventilation equipment, 24/7, 365 days a year.This new venture will provide opportunity to expand our business further into France in the near future.

2012 was a very special year for London and Andrews Sykes as the Olympic games and the Paralympic games were held in the capital. Andrews Sykes became the nominated supplier of portable air conditioning, heaters, chillers, boilers and climate control equipment for the London Olympic Games Organising Comitee. Our London depot was based within 5 miles of 6 of the main Olympic venues including the main Olympic park in Stratford.

To cap a remarkable year for Andrews Sykes, we relocated our main London depot into a new facility in Charlton. Having originally moved to the Charlton area 84 years ago, we have since seen the company grow and expand to become the UK’s biggest and most reliable hire company. In order to keep pace with the continuing growth of the business, the company made the decision to relocate to larger, more efficient and modern premises on the Greenwich Peninsular. The official opening ceremony was attended by Chris Powell, manager of Charlton FC and local Olympic medalist Gemma Gibbons.

Another expansion into Europe came with the opening of our first depot in Switzerland, which opened in July 2013, operating under the name Climat Location. The depot is situated centrally between Geneva and Lausanne, in the Vaud canton, which is in the French speaking part of the Country. The depot supplies the full range of Andrews Sykes HVAC hire products, operating 24/7 365 days a year.

In 2013 Andrews Sykes opened their first climate rental business in the Middle East, operating under the brand Andrews Sykes Climate Rental. The business offers a wide and specialist range of air conditioning and chiller rental equipment. The new company is a division of Khansaheb Sykes, which is our pump hire and dewatering operation, that has been operating successfully in the UAE for over 40 years.

The month of September saw us officially open our second French depot – this time in the capital city, Paris. This addition enables us to guarantee quicker response times and satisfy enquiries from further afield than was previously achievable. It also highlights our rapid expansion within the country and our commitment to further development in the future. We have also added Luxembourg to the list of countries in which we operate after opening a branch there too.

In March 2015, Andrews Sykes added a new depot in Lyon to our expanding French network, enabling us to be geographically positioned to accommodate requirements in the South of France. The opening of our Lyon depot reflects our impressive growth in the country and was sanctioned due to a sharp increase in demand for our services within the region. By having a greater presence in the south-east of France, we are in a fantastic position to handle enquiries from the Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne, Auvergne and Languedoc Roussillon.

On English soil, the business’ headquarters were also upgraded when we moved into a modern facility in St. David’s Court, Wolverhampton. The relocation allows us to retain close links with the city while benefiting from some of its most sought after office space. The company considered it imperative to keep our head office in Wolverhampton – where it has been since the 1960s – to prevent local employees from having to endure an extended commute.

Following the successful opening of our Paris depot in 2014, the company has already expanded in an effort to cope with a hike in demand for our services. The extension has seen our original building more than double in size, allowing us to add extra units to our hire fleet and store more equipment on site.

Having made our mark in rally racing in previous decades, the company is pleased to confirm the sponsorship of up-and-coming Manchester-based driver Chris Ingram. Our association with Chris has already proven extremely popular on social media, with rallying fans drawing parallels between our current partnership and that of former driver Russell Brookes – who we worked alongside with for a then-record seventeen-year period.

Further afield, we have opened a new depot in Ruwais – a large industrial town situated in the United Arab Emirates. Our local projects are generally driven by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Takreer, with our regular involvement enabling us to strengthen our presence in the Middle East since branching out in 2010.

Sykes Pumps introduce a new concept in emergency pumping by unveiling our revolutionary Rapid Response unit. The main feature of our latest innovation is its lightweight frame which allows it to be legally towed by vans and other medium sized vehicles. Although small and compact in size, the pumps deliver users huge performance that facilitates the pumping of up to 130,000 litres per hour

After working closely with Ebbsfleet United for a number of years, it is with great delight that Sykes Pumps announce the continuation of our partnership for the 2016-17 season. Sykes Pumps have enjoyed a strong commercial relationship with the club over the past few years – This season was particularly successful with Ebbsfleet winning promotion to the National League

Andrews Sykes relocate to larger Bovey Tracey depot following sustained regional progress. This particular area has been very deliberately chosen because of its close proximity to a number of major road links, offering quick access to customers based across Devon and Cornwall. Our purpose-built facility will give us an excellent base from which to deliver even better levels of service and is indicative of the progress we have made in recent years.

Andrews Sykes are delighted to announce the opening of a fantastic new depot in Doncaster – taking on additional members of staff in the process. The purpose-built facility comprises of a 16,500 square feet workshop based on a 1.5-acre site. The depot’s location in Doncaster was specifically selected because of its proximity to Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Grimsby. Excellent nearby road routes will enable our technicians and delivery drivers to reach customers more quickly and cut waiting times on emergency callouts.

Andrews Sykes Italian depot open a new depot in Bologna – this is our second Italian outlet following on from our successful Milan depot which opened in 2011. The location was specifically chosen due to its closeness to important cities in Emilia Romagna, such as Modena, Ferrara, Ravenna, but also to facilitate the connection with Florence, Venice, Rome and the South of Italy.

This year is a landmark year for the company as Sykes Pumps celebrate their 160th anniversary of continuous operation. Many things have changed since the business was founded 160 years ago, but an unwavering commitment to providing high levels of service and optimum pumping solutions remains a constant feature of their day-to-day operations.

Sykes Pumps were heavily involved in the construction of the Queensferry Crossing – the UK’s tallest bridge. We provided dozens of pumps to ensure that barges carrying bridge sections were suitably balanced via ballasting.

Chris Ingram sealed the ERC Junior U27 Championship title following a breath-taking performance at Rally Liepāja – wining him €100,000. Chris’ dominant showing in Latvia also culminated in him being awarded the coveted Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy – the third of his career so far! As his sponsors for a second successive campaign, Andrews Heat for Hire are immensely proud of Chris and his achievements to date.

Andrews Sykes are pleased to announce the opening of a new, modern office in Manchester. To mark the occasion, European rally champion Chris Ingram was present to cut the ribbon at the building’s entrance to formally mark the occasion. The new premises will act as a base for both the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration strand of the business, in addition to our northern contact centre – enabling us to bring several operations under one roof.

Andrews Sykes are pleased to announce the opening of a new, modern office in Manchester. To mark the occasion, European rally champion Chris Ingram was present to cut the ribbon at the building’s entrance to formally mark the occasion. The new premises will act as a base for both the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration strand of the business, in addition to our northern contact centre – enabling us to bring several operations under one roof.

Andrews Sykes are pleased to announce the opening of our brand new West Sussex depot. The depot’s strategically chosen location allows us to quickly reach customers across Gatwick, Burgess Hill, Crawley, Lewes, Brighton, Eastbourne, Worthing, the South Downs and many other towns. This facility provides a full range of HVAC and pumping equipment for hire to ensure clients from all sectors are covered.

We recently invested further in our popular HPAC range which has led us to introduce a third high capacity air conditioner to the fleet – the HPAC30. A unique feature of this particular unit is its compact chassis and narrow width of 730mm, which enables the HPAC30 to pass seamlessly through doorways and occupy even the tightest of area – providing greater flexibility to challenging cooling applications.

The tail end of Sykes Pumps’ 160-year anniversary has coincided with the introduction of our new P501 submersible drainage pump. Our latest innovation offers impressive pumping capacities despite its lightweight frame, with flows of up to 5.5 litres per second. The P501 provides users with an excellent plug-and-play solution for emergency projects and has already proved popular with clients since being introduced to market.

Sykes Pumps’ 160th anniversary celebrations drew to a close at this year’s Hillhead exhibition, where we introduced two industry-leading pumps. This landmark was commemorated by the presence of a fully functional 19th century steam engine, which acted as a perfect embodiment of the quality and longevity our customers associate with Sykes Pumps products.

Following a significant property investment by the Andrews Sykes Group, our Italian subsidiary Nolo Climat has moved into a new depot located in the suburbs of Milan. The premises – which are four times larger than our original base – enable us to house the larger units from our chiller range in addition to smaller equipment. The depot includes fully equipped training rooms, a large yard, modern offices and plenty of room to accommodate more growth. We have also increased staffing levels to support our progress, creating new opportunities which we expect to continue into next year and beyond.

A new depot in Marseille marks our fourth in France following a surge in demand for our services across the country. The location was chosen due to its closeness to major road links, which will enhance our local presence and allow us to serve nearby towns including Avignon, Toulon, Cannes, Nice, Montpelier, Nîmes, Perpignan and Toulouse.

The company moved into significantly larger premises in Ashford as we continue to strengthen our presence across Kent and the South East. Situated on the Henwood Industrial Estate, the location offers greater yard space and extra storage capacities to satisfy an increased fleet holding. Located near the M20 motorway, it will guarantee responsive coverage to all customers in the area.

In early 2020, Andrews Sykes Climat Location opened a new depot in Toulouse. This was quickly followed by a sixth French depot – this time in Nantes – which opened for business in the summer.

Specfically chosen to support our existing operations in Milan and Bologna, our Verona depot has given us the perfect platform from which to handle a sharp spike in enquiries across northern Italy