Until recently Hewden had a policy of owning no mobile cranes above the 100-tonne class. If a customer wanted anything bigger, Hewden would cross-hire it from a competitor. However, in 2013 Hewden placed an order for 14 Tadano 130-tonners, the ATF 130G-5 model.
It has now added two Tadano ATF 220G-5 cranes, rated at 220 tonnes safe working load (over the rear, at 2.5-metre radius). These cranes are made at the Japanese company's Tadano Faun subsidiary in Germany.
This pair of 220 tonners are among an £11.5m investment that Hewden is making in mobile cranes this year, which buys it 21 new machines in the 70 to 220 tonne classes.
The Hewden fleet is standardised on Terex and Tadano models. (Its larger rival Ainscough favours Liebherr, but not exclusively.)
Hewden has purchased the Tadano ATF 220G-5 cranes complete with a 21-metre long fully-hydraulic telescopic luffing jib. This attachment gives the crane the sort of ‘up and over’ geometry more commonly associated with tower cranes. (See image below.)
Hewden chief executive Adrian Murphy told The Construction Index in an interview last year that he wanted to make Hewden a major force in crane hire once again. (Read that interview here.)
“We are looking at capacity and starting to reinvest. Cranes are now a separate part of the business – a different business with its own dedicated operational structure. We can now start focusing on it,” he told us.
Hewden operations director Mark Hierons said of the latest spending on cranes: “This is a significant investment for Hewden but the construction sector is continuing to show strong prospects in the UK, especially for large scale infrastructure and commercial projects.
“We’ve been involved in the commercial crane hire sector for more than 40 years but this latest venture is a significant development from our traditional fleet. We are going bigger and better, with the new Tadano rig showing how innovative technology can really help to cut costs and improve health and safety. We’re known in the sector for our safety, reliability, quality and security and the new investments will reinforce that reputation going forward to next year and beyond.”
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