Shepherd Building Group Ltd is a family owned business, based in York, that manufactures, leases and sells modular buildings in the UK and Europe. Its Portakabin and Portaloo brands are frequently treated as generic terms for modular buildings and toilets.[4][5][6][7][8][9][1]
In 1890, 35 year old joiner Frederick Shepherd started the business in York. His younger son Frederick Welton Shepherd joined and expanded the firm known, from 1910, as F Shepherd and Son. They diversified from house building to general contracting, and incorporated, in 1924, as F Shepherd and Son Ltd. By the late 1930s there was a workforce of 700 that operated throughout Yorkshire, and also the North East of England.[2][11][12][13]
Main contractor
The firm undertook extensive work at military sites up to, and during, the Second World War. Post conflict contracts were predominantly public sector, often incorporating prefabricated concrete panel systems developed by CLASP, Wates, and Yorkshire Development Group.[14]
In 1962, F Shepherd and Son Ltd reorganised under Shepherd Group Ltd, and land was purchased at Huntington. Initially it was used for manufacturing, but in 1995 the headquarters moved there from Blue Bridge Lane, near the River Ouse.[11][15][14] The old headquarters site became a Mecca Bingo hall before that too was demolished[16] to make way for the construction of Frederick House student accommodation in 2022.[17]
By 1968, the group employed 6,788 staff. That fell to 3,587 in 1971, and by 2009 there were 3,200.[14]
In 1951 Donald Shepherd, grandson of the founder, developed a bulk cement silo, for use in precast concrete construction, as an alternative to paper sacks. They were sold to other contractors, initially manufactured from plywood. He changed the construction to metal in 1953, and diverted joinery shop capacity released to the production of portable, prefabricated site huts. He conceived the need for easily portable site shelters on a windswept construction site at Catterick Garrison. Initially the huts were for the firm's own sites, but from 1961 they were sold to other contractors. He called the silos and cabins Portasilo and Portakabin.[14][4]
Donald Shepherd continued product development in 1966 with the Portabluportable toilet, soon rebranded Portaloo.[14]
By 2009 there were two semi-autonomous, manufactured product divisions of Shepherd Group, distinct from the original contracting, and building service division:[14][2]
'Portakabin' - Portakabin, Allspace, Yorkon, Foremans, Konstructa and Portaloo brands of modular buildings and toilets.
'Portasilo' - Portasilo and Portastor, silo and modular products.
They were supported by 75 hire centres. The cabins could be found as far afield as Antarctica and Libya.[2][4]
Disposal of non core businesses
The 'Portakabin' division was consistently profitable. By 2015 the others were not, and directors chose to sell or close them.[1]
In January 2015, 80 redundancies were announced at Shepherd Group's silo and modular products division.[20] It was closed in 2019, and the Portasilo and Portastor products discontinued.[1]
In May 2015, Galliford Try's Linden Homes subsidiary purchased Shepherd Homes, affecting 60 employees.[21][22]
Later in 2015, Wates Group purchased Shepherd Group's mechanical and electrical services and facilities management businesses, and some of the Shepherd Construction contracts, for £9.8 million. It did not acquire Shepherd's loss making Colindale mixed use development, or take over liability for past contracts. Twelve hundred Shepherd Construction staff transferred to Wates Group.[23][10]
Shepherd Group accounts for 2020 show ongoing costs of £29.3 million in that year, and £19.7 million in the prior, arising from Colindale and other legacy construction contracts.[1]
In July 2021, Shepherd Group subsidiaries asked the High Court of Ireland for a Norwich Pharmacal order to require Google to disclose any identity information it held relating to a gmail address. It had been used to suggest Portakabin products did not comply with Irish building standards; were of poor quality, and that named managers were incompetent and dishonest. The claims were derogatory, damaging and untrue. The Court ordered Google to provide Shepherd Group with the requested information.[29]
Hand tool vibration
In August 2017, Shepherd Group was served a Health and Safety Executive Improvement Notice because of hand tools causing excessive hand arm vibration at their York site. It complied with the Notice by February 2018.[30]
In September 2017, Shepherd Group recovered registration of domain name portaloohirebirmingham.co.uk from Nominet. It had been abusively registered by a third party.[32]
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