The business was founded in 1962 by Ernest Collinson, who identified an opportunity building agricultural silos to store bulk deliveries of animal feedstuffs.

The ‘Collinson Hopper’ soon became known throughout the UK farming industry.

Initially, silos were manufactured at Sandholme Mill, Barnacre, by just three employees. It became apparent that farming was moving towards automatic feeding, hence Collinson started to manufacture conveyor systems, consequently more extensive production facilities became necessary.

In 1978 Catterall Ironworks were purchased and converted into engineering workshops. The product range expanded to include all manner of feed dispensers.

Over the years the original premises have been replaced by new purpose built factories incorporating the latest CAD CAM technology.

A dedicated high bay silo plant was constructed in 1995, and in 2007 open plan offices and a works canteen were created on the second floor of one of the factory buildings.

Currently Collinson offer a wide range of bespoke silos for Agriculture and the Biomoss Industry, plus many types of conveying systems. A comprehensive stock of spare parts for these systems is kept at all times, backed up by the dedicated Parts Department which offers technical advice to users on diagnosing their requirements and giving advice on repairs and breakdowns. The Industrial division manufactures and supplies storage silos and handling systems for a wide variety of materials, from plastic granules to food ingredients. This division has rapidly developed a reputation for professional engineered solutions and includes companies such as Arla Foods, Kodak, Vencil Resil, and Edme within its customer portfolio.

In 2004 Collinson were appointed as the Sole UK distributors for BestHall buildings from Finland. The wide width clear span design allows for buildings up to 100m width to be erected within weeks. Project costs are therefore significantly lower than traditional building systems.

The main uses are for Sports facilities, such as Indoor football training, indoor tennis courts and Ice hockey arena/stadiums, aircraft hangars, warehousing, waste recycling and timber storage. Rebound boards for the Sports facilities are also manufactured on site.

In latter part of 2007 following the continued growth of the Building division, Collinson restructured to operate two main sectors: Agriculture and BestHall building construction. Currently there are 70 personnel at the Catterall premises and the Collinson family is very proud to still own and run Collinson plc.

In Dec 2008 Collinson were appointed as UK agent for Casali Sports floors/surfaces from Italy. The range of surfaces are Polyurethane or Acrylic based and are used for Multi-Use/Sport or Tennis.