New premises, new cranes

The new premises have 22,000 sq ft of office, training and conference facilities; and the warehouse facilities span over 80,000 sq ft.

Minoru Nalatagowa, CEO of Unic Furukawa, cut the ribbon, marking the official opening of the facility. Graeme Riley, CEO of GGR Group, and Gill Riley, managing director, welcomed guests from many different countries.

Hundreds of people walked around the facility and had a closer look at the spider cranes, pick and carry cranes, mini crawler cranes, trailer crane, glass vacuum lifters, glazing robots, and overhang beams.

At the outdoor area, there were ten different models of Unic spider cranes. The new 10t Unic URW-1006+ mini spider crane, which boasts up to 30.7m of lifting height and a 24.3m working radius, was definitely stealing the crowd’s attention. GGR says it is the world’s largest capacity mini spider crane.

Also on display was the Unic URW-295, which is the most popular spider crane in GGR’s hire fleet.

The Unic battery powered Eco-095 and Eco-295 models, in their characteristic light green colour, were set up opposite each other.

Daniel Ezzatvar, marketing manager at GGR Group, said at the beginning these two models were delivered with non-marking tyres, as they were destined for industrial applications. However they have found a place in many different job sites.

“The Eco-295 on display here has normal rubber tracks. It reflects the change in demand for this type of kit: this is for outdoor applications.”

“These products may be slightly more expensive but the reality is—because of the way they operate—there are savings to be made over the period of use,” he added.

Ezzetvar expects the demand for these machines to increase in the future as the construction sector is becoming more environmentally-conscious, and as legislation regarding emissions becomes stricter.

Next to the spider cranes were also mini crawler cranes. One of them was from Chinese manufacturer Sunward, for whom GGR has recently become a distributor.

“They are on the same body as a digger. We are using it for our own operations from a contract lift perspective, or for hire,” said Ezzetvar.

The company also enhanced its mini crawler offering with the MCC1005 mini crawler, which has 10t maximum capacity. It has a maximum lifting height of 21.5m, which increases to 25m when the optional 3.8m fly jib is used.

The MCC500D is also a new addition in GGR’s offering, with a 5t static lifting capacity and 2t pick and carry capacity.

The pick and carry cranes were on display inside the facility, with the newest models the 3t capacity GF30 and 10t GF100.

Apart from this depot, the company has one in Manchester and another in Glasgow. GGR currently employs 140 people and has a turnover of more than £27m in 2017. The new facility will help the company to fulfil its growth plans.