It was not a major year for cranes this year at the Site Equipment Demonstration (SED), the UK plant show held in Milton Keynes last month. The crane manufacturers find one year in two sufficient for their purposes. Access equipment was out in force, however, and silver medals were awarded to three access products deemed to best demonstrate the virtues of quality and innovation.

The medal winning access products were: Genie’s Z45/25 articulated boomlift with jib option; Niftylift’s 140H trailer-mounted platform; and Manitou’s 170ATT access platform.

Genie also showed the S-45 telescopic boom with jib option, the trailer-mounted TMZ-50/30 and the new rough terrain GS-3268RT scissor lift. A Genie 585 self-propelled telescopic boom was also on show on the stand of rental company Ainscough Group alongside a Skyjack 88/41 scissor lift.

Locally-based Niftylift also showed a 4×4 version of its Heightrider 15n. Another Niftylift Heightrider and a Skyjack 46/28 were on view at Lifting Gear Hire’s display. Skyjack scissors and booms were also shown by Russon Access Platforms.

A first UK showing was given by Access Industries Group to three truck-mounted platforms, the largest of which was the 40m Multitel J340 TA. Brand new was the Multitel J221 ALU, while also on show was a 10m scissor lift, both truck-mounted.

Also seen for the first time in the UK were Bronto S43MDT and Dino 180TM trucks and a Dino 180XT trailer, on the stand of Bronto Skylift dealer Blue Line Access.

The Denka DL28 bi-energy platform, which claims to be the highest road trailer-mounted boom platform on the market, was exhibited by Access Platform Sales, alongside the lightweight Denka DL222 Narrow with variable outriggers.

UpRight’s 26.4m working height SB80 model, launched at Conexpo in March, made its UK debut, complete with “power-out” extendable hydraulic axles which can be deployed in 10 seconds, the company claims. All-terrain scissors XRT 27 and XRT 33 were also shown.

New from Euro Access Platforms, which was making its SED debut, was an 8.5m reach Lite Lift platform mounted on a Daihatsu Hi Jet.

Grove Manlift showed four new products: electric scissor lifts SM 2646E and SM 3248E (working heights 7.9m and 9.8m respectively); and straight boom platforms MZ 66DXT and MZ 72DXT (20m and 21.9m respectively. The MZ 72DXT has a 2m articulating jib, giving 120O of movement.

MaxLift, whose platforms feature a patented wheel design to allow forward, backward and diagonal movement as well as 360O rotation, introduced the MiniMax which also has a self-levelling device.

Priestman’s display included units from its Holan range of insulated platforms, while Ram Access Sales showed its recently introduced range of vehicle-mounted telescopic booms, which vary in reach from 11m to 28m.

Skyking exhibited its 10m to 27m, truck-mounted range such as the van-mounted, non-insulated 129TV and 229TV, as well as the Unimog-based 12m and 14m Flyboom model from the Altec insulated platform range.

The SST36I/Unimog U 100L, insulated for live line maintenance and with a 13m working height, was given its first showing by Versalift Distributors (UK), which also showed a couple of Eurotel access-equipped vans.

Mounted on a 7.5t Daf chassis was the Bizzocchi KF260 telescopic platform which offers a 25.8m working height. Bizzocchi’s new UK dealer is Triple C Group, new to the market and also representing Effer and Idrobenne From Finland, HS Tecno showed its Leguan range, while from Germany Wumag Elevant’s display included a truck-mounted WT 260h, which has a working height of up to 26m and side reach of 18m. Also from Germany, Liftlux Access showed its self-propelled scissor lifts SL 205 and SL 153, and Anton Ruthmann presented its Ruthmann-Steiger types T 265 and TK 310, both mounted on MAN chassis, with 26m and 31m working height respectively.

From the USA, Snorkel International exhibited the newly redesigned SL 19, SL 20, SL 25 and SLH 4084hd models.

Trailer-mounted platforms from Denmark’s Omme were exhibited by UK importer Northern Access, which has appointed Facelift and Astrolift as distributors for southern and central England and Cherrypickers to cover Ireland.