New industrial era dawns for Blackhill following Hunter and Morrison closure

Following six decades of operation, Hunter and Morrison closes its doors, clearing the way for Bisset and White and LTS Shetland to expand.

A new era is beckoning at the heart of Lerwick’s Blackhill Industrial Estate.. Long-standing construction business Hunter and Morrison is winding up its operations after 60 years in business.. But new investment and opportunity beckon to continue the success spearheaded by the firm over the decades.. Local firm Bisset and White is taking over the shed where pre-cast concrete was prepared.. Until now they have been based at the Black Gaet, between Lerwick and Scalloway

For owners Ross Bisset and Paul White, it represents a full circle of sorts, as both worked at Hunter and Morrison earlier in their careers.. “I served my time at Hunter and Morrison 25 years ago,” said Mr Bisset from the pre-casting shed.. “It’s kind of passing it on, so it’s good.” Precasting was first done on the site by Hunter and Morrison back in 1991, when the firm took over the building from two

Wishart brothers who had previously operated there.. But precasting – pouring concrete into molds in a controlled environment before transporting it to site – was done even before then in South Whiteness.. Mr Bisset said there were major advantages to having the site available – not least because it helped keep a lid on transportation costs from the mainland, which have been rising exponentially over recent years.. “We were buying a lot of stuff from

here, and we wanted to keep that local option,” he said.. “The cost of haulage is the one thing that’s gone through the roof.. If something comes damaged, or you’re short, then you can be waiting two weeks, but you can come here and there’s usually stock of everything.” But Bisset and White will not be standing still now.. Having secured the Lerwick building, it has plans to modernise and improve it – so watch

this space.. Also aiming to improve its premises is LTS Shetland, a leading plant hire company situated just up the road opposite the MR Gair motor garage, hiring out everything from diggers to forklifts, telehandlers to cherrypickers.. It has just won a contract with Loganair supplying vehicles to Sumburgh Airport, and also has contracts with EnQuest at Sullom Voe.. The firm worked with Viking Energy during the construction phase of the windfarm.. It provides engineering

services to a wide range of clients, too.. Owner Lee Taylor said the firm was in the process of buying the building from Hunter and Morrison.. Originally based at Sumburgh, the firm moved to the Blackhill site in 2024, leasing the place from Hunter and Morrison.. Before now it has shared the premises with one engineer from Hunter and Morrison.. But it now has plans to make the premises its own.. And Mr Taylor is

promising improvements along the way.. He is eager to raise the roof by three metres to accommodate the bigger plant the business needs to keep ticking along.. “We have the option to extend out to the field at the back of the shed, so it does give you that scope for expansion,” he said.. “You have to be able to grow as time goes on.. With plant hire, if everything came back off hire, we’d

be struggling.” The firm has three members of staff at the moment, but hopes to expand that by offering apprenticeships in the future.. That should help address a significant staffing shortage seen in engineering and other Stem careers over recent years.. Mr Taylor said wages had been forced up due to a shortage of trained and experienced engineering staff.. “The next 10 years are going to be busy as long as investment continues – we

have windfarms that are all happening, the SSE substation, EnQuest looking at transitioning to green energy.. Mr Taylor said he had served his apprenticeship with Streamline during the construction of the Shetland Gas Plant leading up to its 2016 opening.. He said Streamline had 75 employees on the project at that stage.. “We couldn’t get all that people from here.. We had myself and about, hardly, nine of 10 people locally employed within that division,

because we just couldn’t get the people that were qualified.. We had to advertise south.” But with apprenticeships potentially on offer, the firm hopes to dramatically reverse that trend, and help maintain a buoyant economy in the construction industry for years to come.. Regardless, both LTS and Bisset and White are delighted to be taking on the assets of once run by Hunter and Morrison.. Mr Bisset paid tribute to Hunter and Morrison’s directors, who

have served the industry – and the isles – so well over the years.. “It’s been a very easy hand-over,” he said.. “We’ve all worked together to make it work.. “I wish them all the very best in their retirement – it’s well earned, I would have said.” Do you want to respond to this article?. If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.