A few years after buying his first Fassi cranes, Advanté’s managing director Stan Chapman returned to the manufacturer’s agent Walker Crane Services with a very particular requirement; he wanted a crane that could lift his Oasis units, which weigh up to seven tonnes, through 360°.
If the crane could lift safely over the front of the vehicle, as well as over the side and rear, it would make deliveries quicker and easier, particularly in London, where there is typically not much space for such site deliveries.
After many meetings between Advanté, Walker Crane, Fassi UK and Scania, the solution devised was attaching a military-style NATO beam onto the front of the chassis, behind the front bumper.
Onto this is mounted an extra pair of stabilisers, making six legs instead of four, two at the rear that extend out away from the side of the vehicle, two on the frame of the crane that extend similarly, and the extra pair at the front of the cab that just go straight down.
Advanté had been using regular Fassi cranes since the 1990s, but in 2007 its first six-legged Fassi went into service. It now has a fleet of them.
Its cranes are all Fassi F800 or the new F820 models. The F800s have eight boom sections. Its F820 has an additional two manual extensions, making ten sections in total. This crane also has been supplied with a winch system. The trucks are all 32t GVW Scania rigid eight-wheelers with the R500 V8 engine and a vehicle payload of 7.5t.
Advanté transport manager Andy Goldsmith said: “The reliability and overall performance over the years has helped us to maintain higher levels of vehicle operational time.”
The new F820 offers not just 7% more capacity than the F800, but also new features. “The operators find the touchscreen display on the side of the crane very helpful, showing where the legs can be placed and the safety of the crane on the lift. We have been using Fassi cranes for 20 years now and our relationship will continue for the next 20.”
In a drive for greater efficiency – more speed and less cost – the UK construction industry has in recent years focused on exploiting offsite construction, making permanent building modules in factories and delivering them to site ready-made.
These modern methods of construction exploit the benefits of factory conditions and new materials to produce high-quality, low-energy modular buildings.
One regular client specialises in energy-efficient school buildings, which Advanté delivers in kit form for assembly on site.
The company said thanks to its Fassi cranes, it can usually complete the assembly in just a day.