Founded in 1975 as a small family joinery firm, Garriock Bros. Ltd. has steadily grown into one of the largest privately owned companies in Shetland.
Arguably it is also one of the most diverse businesses in Scotland, providing a range of services from civil engineering, plant hire and house building to contract crushing, machine sales and window manufacturing.
Headquartered in the Lerwick, Shetland, Garriock Bros. Ltd. now has depots in Orkney, Edinburgh and Coventry, employing over 120 people across its 4 bases and 10 different divisions.
A move into plant hire set the wheels in motion and in 1994 the company bought over what was the Hewden Plant Hire depot in Shetland, developing the business into the biggest plant and equipment hirer in the islands. Now with depots in Lerwick and Brae, Garriock Bros. Ltd. has a vast range of machinery available to the commercial and domestic market, all of which is maintained to the highest standards. The company also operates a large retail facility in Lerwick, supplying more than 10,000 product lines to compliment its hire equipment.
It was in 1986 that Garriock Bros. Ltd. made its first foray beyond Shetland with the purchase of a tool hire company in neighbouring Orkney.
Expanding into a neighbouring island community is one thing. Moving into the highly competitive mainland market is a much tougher proposition. However in 2002 the company took over a major contract crushing operation in Midlothian. Visit Garriock Bros. Contract Crushing online here.
In 2004 the company bought a vehicle MOT and servicing garage in Orkney, now trading as Orkney Motors, with the firm also operating the Kirkwall based car and van hire firm, Drive Orkney.
When a local company went into administration in 2007 Garriock Bros. Ltd. purchased the assets, which included haulage, transport and the Sullom Mine quarry. This greatly expanded the company’s civil engineering and plant hire capabilities in the islands.
Two years later, when Hanson’s pulled out of Shetland, Garriock Bros. Ltd. bought the leases of their three quarries, their block and ready mix plants, further boosting its position as a major player in the local construction industry.
As the Managing Director, George Garriock, says: “we’re very proud to be a Shetland company making its mark nationally. It’s very important to us but we never forget where we came from.”
