Irish rental company purchases Spierings SK2400-ATF

Having already invested €9 million in new equipment in the last two years, William O'Brien Plant Hire in Ireland has invested a further €7 million.

William O'Brien Junior, involved in the family business his father started 50 years ago, forecasts a bright future for the company. “I remain committed to expanding the business and our current investment plans bear testament to the very ambitious growth plans currently in the pipeline. Central to these plans are a recent land purchase at Little Island, which will be used to build a new state-of-the-art maintenance facility for our fleet of vehicles. We expect construction to begin on this project in April next year with an expected completion date of November 2009.”

Evidence of the growth plan is the recent investment in a new €1 million mobile selferecting crane. The Spierings SK2400-ATF is the first of its kind in Ireland and the UK, O'Brien said. Flexibility and short assembly/dismantling times are primary benefits of this crane for O'Brien.

The new crane is 36 metres tall and has a 60 metre jib. It can lift 18 tonnes at 15 metres radius and 5.5 tonnes at 42 m. Easy erection and flexibility in terms of on-site location means at least 50% more site usage in any one day compared with tower cranes, O'Brien said.