From maintenance to management, NRG Riverside’s nationwide service exceeds customer expectations
As the UK’s largest municipal and specialist fleet hire company, NRG Riverside (NRG) provides specialist vehicles on short and long-term hire, a range of vehicle maintenance packages and a large portfolio of high-quality used vehicles for sale. The company has the skills, knowledge and expertise to support clients’ operational needs. Established in 1996, it has supported its valued customers to rationalise and decarbonise their fleets, save money and improve efficiency by reducing vehicle off road time.
“We are a market leader in contract hire, rental and maintenance for specialist vehicles,” begins Darren Powell, CEO. “We started 28 years ago as Riverside Truck Rental and over the years, by means of organic growth and investment, developed into NRG Riverside. Today, we’re approaching a turnover of £86 million with a run rate getting closer to £100 million. We’ve gone from working primarily in the waste sector with councils and waste operators to more recently moving into alternative verticals, such as infrastructure, highways, and winter maintenance. If the vehicles in question have a specialist angle, we will supply and maintain them. We’ve got our own technicians and depots, operating as a one-stop shop for a variety of customers who want to keep their vehicles on the road in a fully compliant manner for the longest time possible.
“We offer a complete solution for chassis, body and bin lift maintenance and other ancillary equipment. With 20 mobile engineers, 15 workshops and over 300 service partners, customers don’t have to go to the manufacturer or multiple points of contact; they come to us, and we make sure their vehicles are always roadworthy. Replacement vehicles are available for those undergoing routine maintenance to avoid service interruptions,” Darren explains.
Enhanced efficiency and service 
In April 2024, NRG had a change of investor and Astatine Investment Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments, took over from Palatine and other shareholders. “We are excited to be partnering with Astatine on the next chapter of NRG’s growth journey,” he shares. “We look to the future with confidence and with a clear plan for future growth. With recent internal promotions to further strengthen our experienced leadership team, we continue to offer the best customer-led experience from initial enquiry to vehicle delivery and future renewal. We’ve been concentrating on expanding our reach and brand awareness and have taken on a rental and marketing director who’s positively impacted new leads by proactively targeting potential customers.
“Since 2020, we’ve expanded our operations, growing from eight depots to over 15. This growth has necessitated an increase in our number of technicians. While several of our competitors are closing depots due to a shortage of qualified technicians, we stand out because of our in-house maintenance capabilities. Many customers are turning to us for a turnkey solution, appreciating the reliability and expertise we offer.
“By handling maintenance in-house, we ensure high standards and quick turnaround times, minimizing vehicle off-road (VOR) periods. Our comprehensive depot estate allows us to consistently deliver on our promises. Once customers experience the quality of one aspect of our service, they often see the value in our entire service offering and remain loyal, leveraging our full range of services as they move forward.
“We have a comprehensive footprint in England and Scotland and are looking to move into Wales. We have core central spine sites in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and London with Calne to the west and Colchester to the east, and operate satellite sites around those hubs, offering enhanced efficiency and service. We also work with numerous service providers with whom we have great partnerships.”
NRG’s approach to working relationships extends to its workforce, as Darren details: “When I joined the company about three years ago, one of the first things I did was recruit a People Services Director whose first task was to understand what our people want and what we need to do to both attract new talent and importantly, retain our existing staff. We now have a new approach, which is all about our people. We carry out six-monthly reviews that incorporate a satisfaction survey, the results of which are published and acted upon. Along with initiating our apprenticeship scheme, we’ve found that some ex-employees are returning, we’re driving retention and other technicians are proactively wanting to come and work for us. Our reputation as a good employer is growing, and we’re winning awards and doing really great work in that area.”
Growth trajectory
From people to planet, NRG has been on a journey since November 2022 to create an ESG charter that it believes is sustainable, measurable and deliverable over the next few years. The company recognises that it has an ethical and humanitarian responsibility to address climate change and people’s wellbeing. The company manages over 2000 vehicles and all its hire fleet is Euro 6 compliant and predominantly under five years old. Furthermore, NRG has been instrumental in electrifying specialist and municipal fleets across the UK, providing electric vehicles on contract and short-term hire.
Looking to the future, Darren shares that the company has a detailed plan in place for further growth. “We’re looking to at least treble revenue in the next five years and will primarily do so by moving into new sectors. We want to grow our fleet from 2000 vehicles to over 5000 across our contracts and flexi-hire vehicles. Developments such as the new food waste regulations will be very important for us moving forward as the legislation will necessitate more new vehicles of a different type to enable customers to meet the new requirements.
“From a business account management perspective, we’ve got a lot of existing relationships. Therefore, moving into additional verticals like winter maintenance and highways, means we can offer our current customers more choice of vehicles to hire, and hopefully attract new business too. We’re also on the acquisition trail, looking at specialists in their fields with a view to bringing them on board and leveraging their knowledge to help us build out additional areas of expertise. Fundamentally,” Darren concludes, “we will continue to do what we do well, which is making customers’ lives as easy
as possible by giving them a competitive price option to grow and maintain their fleet.”