In January 2022, Middlesbrough College Group submitted plans for a new multimillion-pound engineering facility. Later, NCM Auctions was engaged to handle the clearance of all on-site assets. We auctioned assets such as pillar drills, welding stations, lathes, CNC milling machines, forklifts, and more.

Middlesbrough Engineering College was a large site with a focus on metalwork. We developed an auction catalogue of over 200 lots of assets ranging from lathes to milling machines, pillar drills, welding stations, etc. This process was taken months in advance to allow our marketing team to advertise these assets to the appropriate audience properly.

This auction went ahead, and collections were managed by our operations team as over 60 buyers collected their items before a final ‘mop-up’ auction was completed to capture some smaller and valuable items on reduced reserves.

Marketing

Our marketing campaign ran across several platforms, including Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, email campaigns and auction industry advertising platforms.

Our marketing approach led to a huge return on investment for us and our client:

Impressions = 537,000

Ad Reach = 285,000

The Middlesbrough Engineering College auction was hosted across multiple platforms, providing national reach to bidders. The auction garnered almost £100,000 in revenue for the group.

Sustainability

Alongside the financial benefits, it’s essential to demonstrate the proven environmental gains and advantages to the local community and economy by reusing surplus assets. The result is tangible outcomes that can help validate corporate, social and environmental responsibilities.

Helping Communities

The auction has allowed surplus assets to be re-purposed – growing companies, launching new business ventures, helping communities and charities across the UK and beyond. The type of assets and equipment included in the Middlesbrough Engineering College auction is especially important to third-sector non-profit organisations.

Askham Bryan College announced plans to close the Newton Rigg site at Penrith in 2020. We were engaged to undertake a total site clearance of the college campus, a large site with multiple departments. Assets included farming and agricultural equipment, engineering machinery, commercial vehicles, ground care tools and general college equipment.

Newton Rigg College was a huge site with many different departments and courses being ran, including boarding accommodation. There were over 1,000 individual lots so the planning process started months in advance and consisted of two weeks of lotting, two days of viewings and 3 weeks of the auction catalogue being marketed and advertised across a range of platforms.

Two auctions were ran and collections was managed by our NCM operations team as hundreds of buyers collected their items over a 3 week period before a final ‘mop-up’ auction was completed to capture some smaller and valuable items on reduced reserves.

Marketing

Our marketing campaign ran across a number of platforms including Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, Email campaigns and Auction Industry advertising platforms. Our marketing approach led to a huge return on investment for us and our client:

Impressions = 195,000

Ad Reach = 66,000

Email Reach = 80,000

Auction Advertising Reach = 500,000+

The Newton Rigg College auction was simulcast across multiple platforms providing global reach for bidders. The auction lots achieved over 8,000 bids and over 280,000 auction views, with 84% of all lots sold, raising over £300,000 at hammer value.

Sustainability

Alongside the financial benefits, it’s important to demonstrate the proven environmental gains and advantages to the local community and economy by reusing surplus assets. The result is a tangible set of outcomes that can be used to help validate corporate, social and environmental responsibilities.

Helping Communities

The auction has allowed surplus assets to be re-purposed – growing companies, launching new business ventures, helping communities and charities across the UK and beyond. The type of assets and equipment included in the Newton Rigg College auction are especially important to third sector non-profits.

Buyer Stories

It’s important for us to document some ‘good news’ buyer stories from our auctions and whereas we normally collect these in written format, on this occasion we had a camera-man handy!

The High Melton College campus, part of DN Colleges Group closed in 2017, with the college moving all degree courses to its town centre campus and putting the site up for sale.

The High Melton campus included a nine‑hole golf course, learning resource centre, the Stables restaurant, classrooms, music and dance studios, student accommodation and the Grade II listed Old Hall.

Following the sale of the site and impending demolition, DN Colleges Group approached NCM Auctions to clear the site of all remaining contents and release value from any remaining equipment, furniture and on‑site assets before its redevelopment.

We had to schedule marketing to start using ‘overview’ shots as most of our email marketing had to be built and scheduled before the cataloguing process was even finished. Due to the strict timings and limited access times for decommissioning and collections we opted to target buyers with 15 miles of the High Melton site.

Alongside NCM’s existing social audiences and bidder database, we used targeted ads and traditional display marketing to drive relevant auction traffic. Potential bidders were prioritised as two key target groups:

– Asset specific interests (high value items) within 15 miles of High Melton

– Bargain-hunters, collectors, small businesses, charities, up-cycling and re-use (lower value items) within 15 miles of High Melton

Specific ads were created for each audience and aggressive ad pacing allowed us to deliver 40k+ impressions.

This is supported by a range of bespoke email marketing, pre-auction messaging and just-in-time ‘ending soon’ reminders.

The High Melton College auction was simulcast across four platforms providing global reach for bidders. The 230 auction lots achieved over 1,900 bids and 29,000 views, with 84% of all lots sold. An outstanding result considering the extremely short deadline for completion.

Sustainability

Alongside the financial benefits, it’s important to demonstrate the proven environmental gains and advantages to the local community and economy by reusing surplus assets. The result is a tangible set of outcomes that can be used to help validate DN Colleges Group corporate, social and environmental responsibilities.

Helping Communities

The auction has allowed surplus assets to be re-purposed – growing companies, launching new business ventures, helping communities and charities across the UK and beyond. The type of assets and equipment included in the High Melton College auction are especially important to third sector non-profits.

Buyer Stories

Roy Spalding – Roy bought various items of furniture. He organises collection and delivery of all his winning lots and donates them to a local Multiple Sclerosis Charity.

Jeffery Robinson – Jeffery bought various items of catering equipment for his new cafe in Birmingham – a new business venture he’s hoping to launch later this year.

Stacey Turner – Stacey bought catering equipment, she is setting up her own food packaging company that packs pre-cooked meals and delivers them across the UK.

Elaine Hall – Elaine bought the polytunnel to help expand her own vegetable store company. Buying at auction allowed her to buy a much bigger polytunnel that will help grow the business faster.

Doncaster College had surplus equipment that needed to be disposed of from within their Construction Department. They asked NCM Auctions to find a successful solution, which we promptly did.

NCM Auctions were engaged by Doncaster College to help ease the process of the disposal of the college’s surplus and redundant assets and equipment.

NCM Auctions catalogued the college’s surplus assets and organised an online auction to dispose of these assets and equipment in a quick and proficient manner.

The college gained twice as much income as they were expecting and were surprised and delighted by the ease of the process and the ensuing results.

Established in 1953, North Lindsey College is located in the centre of Scunthorpe. The campus spans several buildings of varying sizes, used for a number of different purposes.

The college aims to be a leader in further education, prioritising the delivery of services within a modern environment. This means that from time-to-time buildings need to be repurposed and, in extreme cases, demolished.

North Lindsey College wanted help with the removal of all their unwanted assets and initially had planned to demolish the building with all unwanted assets still inside.

Knowing that old and even broken equipment can be sold we advised the college not to take this route, but instead, to allow NCM Auctions to facilitate an auction to help generate income from those assets that still hold value.

The building was then fully cleared, with assets from the motor vehicle and engineering departments being removed for auction.

The final auction generated approximately £25,000. By advising the College to sell rather than scrap, we not only saved them money but actually generated funds that could then be reinvested in the development of their new building.

Coventry College had built up a surplus of assets following their merger with Henley College and was looking to free up space. The equipment was distributed across three buildings and needed disposing of in a sustainably.

Coventry College had a range of commercial catering assets to be removed including walk-in refrigerators, grills, serving counters, bain-maries, ovens, sinks along with a number of other catering assets. In addition, a number of assets from the hair and beauty department needed disposing of including high-quality barber chairs, beauty stations and massagers, as well as some ad hoc furniture. The college was looking to free up space and was seeking a cost-neutral and environmentally friendly solution that the traditional clearance route was unable to deliver.

After our initial consultation and site survey with the Head of Estates and Facilities, NCM Auctions were commissioned to look after the disposal of surplus assets via an online auction. Our team managed a swift cataloguing process across all sites and delivered a live sale via our online auction platform within a week. Following our extensive ‘no reserve’ marketing campaign, generated high bidder numbers which prompted a terrific sale in both terms of volume of assets sold and revenue achieved.

NCM Auctions organised a number of pre-arranged collection days across the three sites with the college to work around their access requirements and teaching schedules. This was meticulously planned with buyers, and NCM Auctions providing on-site support to ensure efficient clearance of items sold.

NCM Auctions are delighted to have generated just short of £10,000 from our first auction for Coventry College.

Accrington and Rossendale College campus / Nelson campus was in need of asset disposal for the entire contents of three commercial training kitchens.

Accrington and Rossendale College campus / Nelson campus had surplus catering equipment to dispose of due to a department closure within the college. They also had surplus catering equipment which needed to be disposed of. They asked NCM Auctions to find a successful solution for both campuses which would generate the college revenue and to also have the space cleared by a specific date, which we promptly did.

NCM Auctions took a solution-driven approach to the situation and systematically dealt with both sites.

NCM Auctions prepared the assets for sale by creating online listings on our partner platform Bidspotter. We prepared detailed descriptions and photographs to attract buyers from across the UK and Europe.

NCM Auctions then began to market the assets through online advertising, magazines and email campaigns to our large database of college asset buyers.

Throughout the online auction, NCM Auctions managed all buyer enquiries, inviting them to the college site to inspect the assets whilst supervising all visits to ensure the security of the assets.

We then worked closely with buyers to remove and transport the assets ensuring compliance with all health and safety regulations.

NCM Auctions facilitated the sale of 99% of Accrington and Rossendale College campus / Nelson campus surplus assets.

We freed up valuable college resources by handling every aspect of the sales process. The auction returned significant capital to the college, generating over £100k from over 250 bidders in just three weeks.