With growth top of the agenda, Cleveland Group is at the forefront of the UK’s container industry 

Originally a family-owned container sales company that grew to be the largest in the UK, Cleveland Containers is a leading provider of a wide selection of containers. After investment from Lloyd’s Development Capital (LDC), part of Lloyd’s Banking Group, in 2022, structural change saw the creation of Cleveland Group, comprising Cleveland Containers, Cleveland Hire, and Cleveland Modular.  

With 18 locations across the UK, Cleveland brought in a new CEO, Andrew Thompson, to reshape the business to drive greater profitability and growth in new sectors. As the UK’s largest container sales company, Cleveland Containers sells new and used containers, and although the vast majority of new containers are purchased directly from China, the business also boasts the largest network of UK domestic traders.  

Cleveland Hire provides modern, energy efficient, and Joint Code of Practice (JCOP) fire-rated core hire fleet across the UK, and since 2022, the business has invested over £13 million in anti-vandal (AV) accommodation alone. Cleveland Hire not only provides the units but also offers a full turnkey solution, with all accessories like furniture, platforms, steps, temporary power, lighting and fencing sourced from UK manufacturers.  

Lastly, Cleveland Modular is also a new division, having gone from zero units to being the UK’s largest import of Containex modular buildings in 2023 and 2024. With more than £10 million invested to date, the company is set to complete a record number of projects in the first quarter of 2025 and demand is far outstretching supply capability.  

Investment all round 

Since joining the business, Andrew has not only overseen the creation of these brands but also supported a combined investment of over £40 million. “Cleveland Containers was a family-owned business, which began operating in 2011 with a single shipping container,” Andrew begins. “Ten years later, it had grown into the UK’s largest container sales company. I joined the business around the time it secured funding from LDC with a vision to build the group based on the proven success of the containers business and focused on a hire model.   

“We now offer AV accommodation like steel offices, drying rooms, canteens, and toilets through our Cleveland Hire brand, as well as more open-plan, semi-permanent modular buildings via Cleveland Modular. Aside from growing our portfolio with these two brands, we’ve also grown our team over the last few years, expanding from 45 people in 2022 to around 105 people currently.”  

Elaborating on the container side of the business, Andrew continues: “We hire and sell every variation of container you can think of and provide them to a variety of sectors including self storage, construction, infrastructure, retail and renewables, as well as specialized containers for the offshore sector. Using both an in-house team and a third party, we also offer bespoke container conversions. We’ve turned containers into everything from inner city bars and restaurants to football fan zones; we’ve even done a Harley-Davidson showroom and Gulliver’s Kingdom.  

“Within Cleveland Hire, we provide a full service including facilities like temporary power, lighting, fencing, fuel supply, water deliveries, waste disposal, and even furniture through our network of trusted UK suppliers. In 2024, we worked with leading manufacturers and insurance agencies to devise a UK industry-first core fleet solution to the imminent fire protection legislation changes under JCOP. We invested heavily in fire compliance to go beyond the legislative requirements, ensuring complete peace of mind for our customers with full insurance approved specification to future-proof any potential changes in the coming years. Our Cleveland JCOP Gold fleet exceeds JCOP specifications and our core customer base for these is the infrastructure, renewables, and construction sectors.   

“Our modular buildings, on offer through Cleveland Modular, are manufactured by Containex, Europe’s largest manufacturer of modular buildings. As with AV accommodation, we were the first company in the UK to introduce and import our high specification JCOP-compliant Containex units, as confirmed by the manufacturer. We changed the specifications by adding upgraded insulation, higher ceilings and modern appliances, and our units can be EPC A to ensure high efficiency and reasonable running costs. The customer base is similar to Cleveland Hire, covering infrastructure, renewables, energy, and construction.”  

Supporting self storage 

As a £1-billion-dollar industry in the UK as of 2024, the Cleveland Container division is targeting the self storage market with its industry-first concept, BOX+, and its platinum partnership of the Self Storage Association UK (SSAUK). Andrew elaborates: “We’re heavily aligned with the self storage industry through our membership with the SSAUK, the UK’s governing body for self storage. Our Box+ service is specifically designed to help businesses create a hands-free and profitable self storage operation, providing management tools to streamline operations, site layout and planning support, marketing expertise, and exclusive discounts.   

“To further support our self storage customers, we’ve developed unique partnerships with expertise in the sector to offer bespoke packages for self storers at exclusive discounted rates when buying through Cleveland, as well as discounted SSAUK membership with Cleveland Container purchases, providing a holistic approach specifically for the self storage industry. Services included as part of our BOX+ service include CAD drawing, marketing and search engine optimisation coaching, land planning, automated accounting systems, site security and self-storage focused finance packages for the entire project.  

Having experienced an average of 31 percent EBITDA growth over the last three years, we ask Andrew what he thinks has facilitated such impressive growth. “We strive to deliver right first time, 98 percent of the time, and we have one of the highest independently verified customer service scores,” he states. “We have some of the best people in the industry here at Cleveland Group. Plus, in a notoriously male industry, we’ve achieved gender equality, 50/50 ratio across the business, including our senior leaders, and this level of diversity and representation is key to any successful business.   

“As the business evolves from a transactional container sales company into a group based on a hire model with an extensive range of products and services, Cleveland is disrupting the market. To ensure this transition is successful and seamless, we’ve invested in the infrastructure, skills, and capabilities to deliver services to the highest possible standard. We’ve opened three new locations and we’re imminently opening another in the Southwest. Alongside the new sites, we’ve invested in groundwork, workshops, paint spraying facilities, PPE, and state-of-the-art equipment to ensure quality and safety is at the forefront of our operation.  

“Although we’ve grown our headcount and increased volume in the depots, I’m incredibly proud that our number of accidents remains at zero, led by a culture of proactive leading indicators,” Andrew shares. “We were already ISO 9001 certified, but we also achieved 14001 and 18001 in the first half of 2022 and were ROSPA Gold winners for two consecutive years as new members. We’ve invested in the working environment by adding new welfare facilities and defibrillators in every location, all of which have resulted in best-in-class safety metrics, not just in the UK but across the globe.”  

Sustainable progress 

Cleveland has also invested significantly in its sustainability journey, having received net carbon neutral status around 18 months ago. “Through LDC, we partnered with Sustainable Advantage to conduct an in-depth, holistic audit, and they provided us with a 350-point action plan focused on Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions,” Andrew explains. “Tackling sustainability from every angle, we’ve adopted EVs, implemented EV charging points on site, source electricity from a sustainable supplier, planted more than 4000 trees over two years, and committed to recycling or repurposing 99 percent of waste. We’ve also audited our supply chain and created an ESG committee to ensure we remain committed to sustainable operations in every area of the business.”  

However, while Cleveland has fostered growth internally, Andrew highlights the partnerships that have contributed to the company’s success. “Supply relationships are crucial to any business, and we have multiple suppliers that have accelerated our growth journey,” he reflects. “We partner with suppliers who complement our business in terms of safety, customer service, and transparency, as we become extensions of one another’s businesses. It hasn’t been easy to grow so quickly, and when we experience growing pains, we know we can rely on our suppliers to navigate challenges.”  

From speaking with Andrew, his passion and determination to lead Cleveland through this new era of growth shines through. With ongoing investment, enhanced capabilities, and an ever-growing customer base, the business is sure to succeed. “We’ve got a solid base with consistently profitable trading, and we’re now looking to grow both organically and through acquisitions,” he shares. “We have a relatively open mind when it comes to acquisitions with plenty of opportunities through our partners LDC, and we’re currently engaged in conversations about three potential acquisitions. We’ll stay within containers, modular buildings, and AV accommodation, but we may expand geographically or add new complementary products as the business matures.   

“One of our challenges is that although we have a strong pipeline, we must grow and invest responsibly to not overstretch our capacity,” Andrew concludes. “We want to maintain our service standards and keep our teams happy and engaged in their work. Looking at the next five years, we have a strong platform and opportunities for growth, and we have an even longer-term plan to expand our European footprint.”   

www.clevelandgroup.co.uk 

www.clevelandcontainers.co.uk 

www.clevelandmodular.co.uk 

www.cleveland-hire.co.uk