Selkirk firm gets a hydraulic boost

The company’s managing director is Mark Graham, who hails from the Borders, but the company also has depots across the country in Bathgate, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and East and West London.

Over the past six years, Astra has undergone a process of rapid expansion throughout the UK.

It is now considered to be the country’s largest, and most forward-thinking supplier of excavator mounted attachments, and works in partnerships across the industry, acting as “a one-stop shop”.

Mr Graham told The Southern Reporter this week: “A large factor in Astra’s success last year was the quality, range and availability of the products supplied.

“This was recognised in 2015 as our hard work and demanding standards saw us selected to be the sole UK dealer for both Trevi Benne and Taets attachments.

“With initial orders in excess of £1.6million, both Trevi Benne and Taets are widely considered to be two of the most reputable attachments manufactures worldwide,” he continued.

“We are working closely with them to design industry specific attachments, to better meet the ever-changing demands of our customers.”

Mr Graham added: “In addition to our extensive product offering, our success in 2015 was in no small part a result of a strategic decision to better engage with our customers.

“We have been able to communicate the benefits of working with Astra across all of their sites.

“We now supply the likes of Network Rail, One Call Hire, Speedy, Aplant and Hewden on a nationwide basis, acting as a one-stop shop for their attachment needs.”

And after such a strong performance last year, Mr Graham said that anticipating future growth, the company was looking to extend its workforce in its Selkirk head office at Riverside House.

He went on: “To support the further expansion of Astra, and to help meet our current needs, one of our key development areas is the recruitment of additional staff in Selkirk.

“We are looking to source expertise in human resources, accounting and financial, analytics, transport co-ordinators and administration/hire desk support in order to centralise some core business functions to one location.”

Early last year the Selkirk-based company invested £250,00 in a new fleet of delivery vehicles designed to be as efficient and also as environmentally friendly as possible.