Modular construction expert Thurston Group has acquired portable building manufacturer Alsim System Building Limited, following its recent insolvency, absorbing the firm’s assets and customer relationships into its own business.
Alsim, in Hull, was founded in 1992 and had employed 52 people before experiencing “financial difficulties” in late 2024, after which joint administrators Redman Nichols Butler were appointed in March of this year.
Prior to this, Alsim had marketed itself as having an “attractive solution to provide space for all types of requirement”, with a focus on the temporary living and secure accommodation sector.
A recent online auction appears to show among the assets acquired were steel stores, manufacturing components, steel stillages and scaffolds, Champion and Kaeser mig welders, pillar drills, tool stores, panel and radial arm saws, cantilevers and more.
Wakefield-headquartered Thurston said the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will immediately diversify its offering to the UK modular and portable building sector, allowing it to expand its Cabins division and manufacture a style of temporary living accommodation not currently within its portfolio.
It also follows Thurston Group’s acquisition of specialist fabrication business Storplan, in February, also for an undisclosed sum, allowing the business to take on larger structural steel projects and more complex modular construction work as well as bespoke building fabrications.
Thurston will also have access to Storplan’s 1,900-sqm manufacturing facility in York, consolidating and boosting the firm’s fabrication capacity.
Thurston managing director, Matt Goff, said: “Alsim has long been respected for its design expertise and customer relationships within the construction sector.
“By acquiring its assets and IP, we’re not only strengthening our own technical capability but also reinforcing our position as a trusted, forward-thinking off-site manufacturer.
“This acquisition enables us to support Alsim’s existing customers with confidence, while enriching our design library and expanding the breadth of solutions we offer.
“Strategic moves like this are fundamental to Thurston’s growth — we’re actively seeking further opportunities to diversify, scale our capacity, and enhance our expertise to better serve a growing client base and cement our leadership in the modular industry.”
Founded in 1970, Thurston Group employs 380 people across its four sites in East and West Yorkshire and is on track to turnover £60 million this year.
The business was acquired by private industrial investment company HLD Group in 2021 through a £16 million asset-based lending facility that formed part of the total acquisition cost.
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