Britannia AuctionsFactory and workshop clearance in Glasgow
Glasgow has both the industry and the estates built around it. Hillington, Queenslie, Clydesmill and the Clyde Gateway estates sit beside the motorway, which shortens the run in for a low loader, though the yard, the door and the turning space are still measured when we walk the site. The engineering and motor trade runs from Paisley to Motherwell, well within reach of a viewing day.
The units themselves are mixed. Engineering and automotive shops at Hillington leave machine tools, vehicle lifts, compressors and test kit. Food producers leave stainless process lines. Printers and packaging plants leave presses, die cutters, folder gluers and converting lines. Distribution depots at Cambuslang leave racking and handling kit by the hundred metre.
We sell the lot in one online auction with a viewing day, and the strip out and residue can be arranged afterwards where agreed, so the landlord gets the shell back. Describe the site and the deadline through the form.
Engineering and vehicle workshops around Hillington
Hillington Park holds a lot of the engineering and motor trade in the west of the city, and a clearance there sells into the same estate. Lathes, mills, machining centres, welding plant, fabrication kit and inspection equipment suit the neighbouring shops, and Paisley, Clydebank, East Kilbride and Hamilton are a short run from a viewing day. Vehicle workshop lots, two and four post lifts, tyre changers, wheel aligners and diagnostic kit, suit garages across the central belt, and bidding is online.
The property side is checked the same way as anywhere. Estate roads here were laid out for lorries and junction 26 of the M8 is close, and when we walk the site we confirm the turning space, the yard surface, whether a crane could stand and what permission that would need.
Compressed air ring mains, extraction, cable tray and the busbar come out with the strip out after collection where agreed, and the floor fixings ground flush.
Scottish term days and the date on the surrender
Commercial leases in Scotland often run to the term days in May and November, and a lot of clearances are timed to one of them. Working back from the term, we propose an auction close a few weeks ahead, with the collection window and then the strip out in the days left. How much each stage needs turns on the number of lots, the access and how much is fixed in, and if the plant is heavier than the timetable allows we say so when we first visit.
Insolvency clearances run to a different clock. The practitioner wants the assets sold and the premises given up before another rent period starts, and the sale is arranged to close before the next payment falls due.
Either way, Glasgow's position helps. The trade at Motherwell, Hamilton, Cumbernauld and Airdrie is half an hour away on the M74 and M8, so a viewing day is easy to get to, and the same roads shorten the run for a low loader heading south.
What these sales can include
- Production machinery
- Machine tools and tooling
- Pallet racking and mezzanines
- Compressors and air receivers
- Extraction and filtration systems
- Overhead cranes and hoists
- Forklifts and pallet trucks
- Workbenches, cabinets and stores
- Electrical switchgear
- Office furniture and IT
- Scrap metal and redundant stock
- Vans and site vehicles
The auction stage
We catalogue every saleable item on site, from the main machines down to grouped lots of hand tools and stores. The sale runs online as a timed auction with a viewing day at the premises. The buyer pays the hammer price plus the premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately, and collects during an agreed window.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. They arrange and pay for dismantling and removal. Where an item must be taken down carefully, such as a mezzanine or an overhead crane, the catalogue says so and it is part of the lot.
You keep the premises accessible, safe and powered until collection ends. We attend to release lots. The more that leaves through the auction, the less there is to clear at cost afterwards.
The factory and workshop clearance page covers clearance is a different job from a sale, everything that has to come out, the clearance stage, timescales and what slows them down, when a clearance is the wrong approach.
Questions about selling in Glasgow
- The unit at Queenslie is shared with the landlord's own storage. Can you clear round it?
Yes, if the boundary is agreed in writing before we start. We walk the unit with you and the landlord and mark what stays, then photograph it so there is no argument later. Lots are catalogued only from the tenant's side, and collection is routed so buyers do not pass through the landlord's area. The strip out contractor works to the same line. It slows nothing, but it does need the landlord to be at the site visit rather than told afterwards.
- We have a paint plant and a solvent store in the packaging unit. Is that a problem for the sale?
Not for the sale, but it needs its own plan. Solvents, inks, adhesives and thinners are removed by a licensed waste contractor before the viewing day, with the consignment notes kept for your records. A paint plant or coating line sells if it is in working order and is catalogued as a dismantling lot with the buyer responsible for removal. Any bunded store or extraction that stays behind can be stripped out by a contractor where agreed, with the residue disposed of through a licensed route.
More questions about factory clearance
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.