b'CHAPTER 05A HOUSEHOLD NAME | 43SHED HIRE/PRESTIGE PORTABLES EASI RENTS Prestige Portables, formerly known as Shed Hire,In 1987, Grant Spradbrow, general manager focused on providing modular buildings for variousof Kennards, wanted to do something new. industries. These modern and high-quality portableHandymans Hire in Hornsby, a smaller sized structures offered numerous benefits, includingbusiness, became available. In partnership with cost and time savings, as well as the ability to beKennards, Handymans Hire changed its name to easily moved and adapted to different locations.Easi Rents. Easi Rents went on to open a second The demand for these buildings was so high, manystore in Manly Vale. When Kennards acquired GKN1 were never even seen by employees before theyin 1992, both Easi Rents stores were acquired by were delivered straight to the customers site whereKennards. Grant was a director of Kennards for they remained for extended periods of time beforemany years.being moved to the next customer. AUSTRALIAN HI-REACH RENTALSA partnership with industry veteran Gordon EsdenAustralian Hi-Reach Rentals was the only one helped establish Prestige Portables as a leadingof these early SBUs that was wholly owned by provider in this field until it was sold to Coates Hire Kennards Hire. Hi-Reach supplied scissor lifts and in the 1990s. other high-reach equipment, such as boom lifts and cherry pickers, to customers in a variety of GENERATOR RENTALS industries including construction, maintenance In 1980, Kennards Hire partnered with Blair Cavill,and event setup. These machines allowed workers a former branch manager at Moorebank, to launchto access high areas safely and efficiently, eliminating Generator Rentals. A quiet achiever with a dry sensethe need for scaffolding or ladders. of humour, Blair personally developed ultra-silenced generators, which were the first in Australia. TheHi-Reach was divested during Kennard Hires generator rental business was created as a responseacquisition of the rental arm of GKN Rentals in toa miners strike that caused concerns about1992, when it was sold in exchange for eight of potential power outages. Kennards Hire recognisedGKNs general hire branches.the high demand for generators of all sizes, but did not have the range to meet this demand. Therefore, Kennards decided to establish a separate business unit specifically focused on generator rentals. This required the acquisition of specialised trucks to transport the generators. Generator Rentals was sold to Aggreko in 1990,and Blair Cavill passed away on 8 May 2017.'