We have got 174 tower cranes, and with a total tonne/metre rating of 52,610tm, it is the largest fleet in the UK without fear of contradiction.
Of the 174, some of the older ones are for disposal, leaving a fleet with an average age of less than 3.5 years. This must surely be the youngest fleet in Europe, if not the world.
About 140 of our cranes are Comedils. We are the UK distributor for Comedil. We have other brands too, though. When our parent company O’Rourke acquired the contractor John Laing last year, Laing’s EPL Plant Hire subsidiary joined Select Plant and we took on their tower cranes.
Our fleet breaks down into 57 luffers from 150tm to 700tm, 51 topless cranes from 180tm to 630tm and 66 ‘normal’ hammerheads from 50tm to 630tm.
With 43 of our 57 luffers being over 270tm, and with an average age of less than two years, ours is not only probably the biggest but also the youngest fleet in the world.
With 40 of the topless, or flat top, cranes being over 340tm and 18 of them being over 630tm, it is without doubt the largest topless fleet in the world. Our topless cranes have an average age of less than one year.
Interviewed by Phil Bishop
