Investing in new access equipment

Hewden, the national, multi-product hire specialist, has invested in excess of £1.2 million to increase the size and availability of its access equipment portfolio.

One of the first customers to benefit from the new fleet, which includes over 40 Genie articulated booms, is the Shell UK Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port, where two Z45 machines are on long-term hire.

The units were supplied by the Hewden facility that is located on the Ellesmere Port site.

Phil Smith, lifting and rigging coordinator at Shell UK, comments: "Hewden has been based on this site for over 15 years and has proven its ability to provide high quality products backed by a professional, reliable service."

"We had no hesitation in hiring out the new access machines which are used for general maintenance and cleaning tasks within the refinery."

Commenting on the investment, Andrew Swallow, product director at Hewden, said: “Over the last year, we have seen demand for our range of access equipment rise steadily. This is, in part, driven by the preferred supplier status we now have with many of the country’s major contractors, which can require fast equipment turnaround and sees some of the most sought-after fleet on hire for long periods.

"We studied market trends to determine the most popular products in our fleet and in turn, chose to invest in some of the latest access technology available to ensure we could continue to meet our customers’ needs."

Andrew continued: "This investment reflects our commitment to supplying modern, reliable and safe access equipment across the UK and to ensure that we can continue to meet market demand at both a local and national level."