Local businesses are at the heart of the community and the more they succeed, the better it is for the economy.

So when businesses thrive, the community benefits.

Target Plant is an Essex company whose success turned out to be a key milestone for the area.

The company is now celebrating its 40th anniversary, after offering plant and tool equipment for hire and sale for decades.

The business was founded by Chris and Pam Braby in 1981, who were trading from industrial premises in Stanway.

They now have two branches – in Colchester and Ipswich - which allow them to cover the areas around Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, London and Kent.

And when mini-tracked excavators were introduced to the fleet in 1987, Target Plant was able to broaden its customer base to include the general public too.

Martin Frost, 36, of Colchester, who is the general manager, said: “We branched out to do consumer hire and it’s a big grow for us.

“In the early days money was tight, so they didn’t offer excavators. They were only offering small hand tools.

“We’ve got over 100 excavators on the high fleet now which is pretty amazing.“

After many years in Stanway and outgrowing the depot, the company purchased its present property on the Severalls Business Park in north Colchester.

Gazette: Target Plant

It started trading further afield in Suffolk, which led to another depot being opened in Ipswich at the Greenwich Business Park.

The company offers a range of construction equipment, including hand tools, protective site clothing and safety footwear, road surfacing products, and construction machinery.

Mr Frost added: “We have about 600 different items that you can hire and about 2,000 for sale.

“We sell ex-hire equipment when we are finished with it but we also have a big showroom to show clothing, PPE and hand tools – forks, hammers and many more.”

The company is also offering site equipment hire such as temporary fencing, road crossing plates, kerb ramps, concrete shutters, and scaffold boards , which are available to both building companies and individual customers.

The business also specialises in mini excavators, which are regularly replaced to ensure the company maintains its reliable service to customers.

But making the business thrive hasn’t been all roses.

Gazette: Target Plant

Mr Frost said the pandemic lockdown had been a “big challenge” for Target Plant, but the company is now successfully going back on track.

He added: “Last year turnover dropped because of Covid.

“We were fortunate that we didn’t get affected as some industry because the construction industry carried on.

“We closed the doors for around four to five weeks in the early part of lockdown.

“We had quite a lot of customers still managing to work and they needed our services, so we came back and the whole time we were available if they needed us by the phone and emails.”

Gazette: Target Plant

Despite the company’s success, Target Plant is not planning on launching another branch for the time being.

There is still uncertainty as to what the post -Covid world will bring for many businesses.

Mr Frost added: “The uncertainty and the economy is too fragile at the moment to do that but we still plan to keep growing.

“As we celebrate our 40th anniversary may we thank all our past and present customers whilst looking forward to an exciting challenging future.”

For more information on the business, visit targetplant.co.uk.