Aiming high - a Chieftain tank is among the collection Group Industrial has helped restore for Heugh Battery Museum .
Top guns
Military precision required for new Group Industrial mission
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURES : CHRIS BOOTH
“
Please can you help restore our Chieftain tank ?”
Not , perhaps , the question a thriving industrial services firm would usually expect to be asked .
But for a firm that prides itself on its versatility , it was an intriguing mission Middlesbrough-based Group Industrial UK was happy to take on .
In just a few years , Group Industrial has quickly established itself as one of the country ’ s leading industrial service suppliers .
Whether it ’ s working on renewable energy plants or providing scaffolding on docksides , the firm , established by Mike Marsh in 2017 , continues to flourish – thanks in no small part to its flexible approach to jobs , attention to detail and willingness to take on tasks others might decline .
But its latest project – restoring one of the country ’ s most important collections of military guns and vehicles – is surely its most unusual yet .
Group Industrial was originally brought in to provide some scaffolding at Hartlepool ’ s Heugh Battery Museum , which was looking to prepare for reopening after lockdown .
But once on site , it became clear there was lots more Group Industrial could help with .
And among the tasks it agreed to undertake was cleaning up guns , armoured cars – and even that Chieftain tank !
The work is now under way , ensuring the collection will be in pristine condition when the museum fully reopens , its café already having opened in April .
The museum and the adjoining coastal battery , which stands on Hartlepool ’ s historic Headland and is preserved as a scheduled monument , is the site of the only World War I battlefield in the UK .
On December 16 1914 , the artillery at the Heugh and neighbouring Lighthouse
46 | Tees Business