One Call Hire invests £32.6 m in fleet

UK rental company One Call Hire is investing £32.6 million in its rental fleet this year on the back of rising demand for equipment in the power, water and rail sectors.

The order included £7.5 million on 361 site dumpers, £20.2 million on 430 excavators and £1.4 million on 89 tandem rollers and is the largest investment ever in One Call's 40 year history.

Major suppliers include Hitachi and Caterpillar for excavators and Manitou for telehandlers, while the site dumper suppliers include Terex, Thwaites, Wacker Neuson and Ausa.

The investment - of which 86% is replacement with 14% representing fleet expansion - sees One Call increase the number of 7t and 13 t compaction rollers with machines from Hamm and Cat, and a move into heavy duty telehandlers, with four 12 t capacity Manitou MHT 10120 handlers alongside 30 Manitou MT 625 units.

The investment reflects One Call’s optimism for the UK construction sector, with the company citing large infrastructure and utility projects such as Crossrail, nuclear power stations and the AMP 6 investment programme for UK water authorities, as well as more positive trends in housebuilding.

Martin Fitzpatrick, joint managing director of One Call Hire, said the demand for plant hire is increasing with these major projects on the rise; “our customers are seeing an increase in work and subsequently we see an increase in demand for plant. The growth of the company has put us in a perfect position to invest in new machinery and will allow us to meet demand as the construction industry continues to slowly grow.

“We have seen an increase in demand for excavators and telehandlers reflecting a wider range of hire opportunities in our existing markets. This has caused us to invest in particular machines like the heavy lift telehandlers in response to changes in demand”.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the investment would allow it to offer customers machines that were more reliable and fuel efficient, “with substantially lower fuel costs which will help them meet their carbon emission targets.”

All the new excavators come with Stage IIIB engines, but the order also includes its first Stage IV final compliant excavators, the New Holland E75C excavator, which will be delivered in September, more than a year ahead of the emission regulations timetable.

One Call Hire, based in London, operates from eight “super depots” across the UK and has an alliance with Nixon Hire for contracts north of Leeds. According to its website, the company has annual revenues of more than £25 million.