MKM AGRI START THE PROCESS OF RECOVERY

Anthony Deacon of dealership MKM Agri, who suffered a terrible fire that destroyed their workshop in April, told Service Dealer this week they are looking to the future and are at the start of their rebuilding journey.

A salvage company at MKM Agri this morning, Friday 14th May, grabbing the destroyed vehicles out of the wreckage

Anthony said, "We have made steady progress but these past weeks have been incredibly difficult.

"Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago our insurer accepted liability and so since then I've been working full time dealing with the claim, working out exactly what's been lost. It's difficult but we're getting there."

In the fire MKM lost their entire workshop and another lean-to building, which totaled around 4000 sq ft of space. Since then they have continued operating out of a separate building which houses their office, showroom and parts storage. "We're using a small, old shed as our workshop currently," Anthony explained, "which is about an eighth of the size of what we lost - so far from ideal."

The specialist salvage team who are in today are removing debris in order to get ready for the rebuild

He continued, "As we speak though, concrete is being poured for the base of a temporary workshop which we shall use whilst the remains of the old building is flattened - before building up our new dealership.

"The plan is to design an entirely new purpose-built premises. There is a lot to think about with an endeavour such as this and I would be very interested in hearing from other dealers who might have some thoughts about how we might best achieve our goals."

The new unfinished concrete slab laid in preparation for a temporary workshop. The current showroom and offices can be seen at the end, with the fire destroyed workshop in the distance on the left, due to be demolished next week.

Anthony concluded by saying how the level of support they had received from the industry since the fire had been "incredible." He remarked, "I can't thank everyone enough for their kind words and offers of help."

Service Dealer will follow MKM Agri through their process of recovery.