From planning and coordination, to managing site workers, running an infrastructure project is complex and time consuming.
At Access Hire, we understand this, which is why we are dedicated to ensuring that hiring Access Platform Vehicles including our specialist Vehicle Mounted Access Platform (VMAPs) is seamless and easy. Making helping your project run smoothly and taking a load off your shoulders.
How do we make hiring access platform vehicles easy? Through our industry-leading service, which has helped us develop trusting, long-term relationships with numerous clients and become the provider of choice for infrastructure projects across the UK.
Let’s look at five reasons why our service is so effective:
1. Product knowledge
Our service starts with genuine product expertise. Throughout our organisation, people are deeply knowledgeable and passionate about Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms – combined, they have over 200 years of industry experience.
Our partners can trust us to provide the best Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms on the market, as well as confidently fielding their detailed queries about the vehicles’ specifications. The expert advice we are able to provide ultimately saves time and reduces stress for our partners.
2. 24/7 Support
We provide round-the-clock support, every day of the year. This stems from a belief that our job is not simply to provide high quality access vehicles – it’s to ensure your project runs smoothly at all times.
Roughly one third of all service calls we receive results in an instant resolution through a conversation with one of our expert engineers, and our dedicated service team responds immediately to all requests. This minimises delays and helps our partners feel confident that they have the support they need.
3. Fully Inclusive Maintenance
We ensure every piece of equipment we hire out is perfectly maintained. We provide regular inspections and planned maintenance to ensure our Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms are always running at optimal level. All planned maintenance is proactively booked in for you at your convenience by our service team professionals, meaning minimal disruption to your workload and peace of mind that nothing will get missed.
This means project managers don’t have to concern themselves with technical appraisals – they can simply rest assured that their access vehicles are being looked after by true experts.
4. Long-term relationships
In their recent look at the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery, PwC argued that closer relationships with suppliers is key to accelerating infrastructure projects.
Our service is based upon this and we provide just those kinds of relationships, which means partnering with Access Hire is quick, easy, and secure. This ensures your peace of mind when choosing us as your access equipment provider.
Ultimately, we believe great service builds great relationships. By providing consistently reliable and safe products, we develop long-term relationships with our clients that means they never have to settle for second best.
The UK’s leading hirer of mobile eco welfare units and vehicle mounted access platforms, to infrastructure sectors, Kelling Group is setting the standard for modern, environmentally-conscious specialist equipment hire. The business prides itself on providing clients with the most modern, innovative, eco-friendly specialist assets in the market. Last year, the group invested c. £20m in fleet with a similar investment anticipated in the next 12 months.
A true innovator in its field, Kelling Group is a specialist equipment hire business built on five key pillars: Quality, Service, Environment, Wellbeing and Value. Backed by dedicated ‘Kelling Guarantees’ for each principle, the Group vows to hire out only market-leading vehicles and equipment, at the most competitive rates, and with premium levels of nationwide customer support. Kelling’s specialist units are designed to maximise smart and effective working, with the Group also offering some of the cleanest and greenest products on the market – many of which include the UK’s first Lithium hybrid power, solar panels and fuel saving systems – with CO₂ reduction rates more than 15 times the industry standard.
Kelling is a strategic investor in core infrastructure sectors, such as rail, highways, power, telecoms, utilities and civil’s projects. The Group has two specialist equipment divisions: Access Hire Nationwide, which specialises in vehicle mounted access platforms, and Welfare Hire Nationwide, focusing on mobile eco welfare units, welfare vans and lighting. As a Group, Kelling and its subsidiaries have invested in some of the sector’s most advanced vehicles and equipment.
“We have the largest and most modern fleet in the UK in our chosen specialist areas of focus,” says Stephen Moore, Group CEO. “Our strategy is to partner with our clients, providing the best a and service for critical infrastructure projects in the UK.”
The Group also aims to become the industry’s most eco-conscious operator coinciding with growing calls for businesses to hit new carbon emission targets, as well as increase their focus on sustainability. As a result, more and more major authorities and organisations, including HS2, Network Rail, and Highways England, see Kelling as a key partner in helping them achieve their environmental and CSR goals.
Andy Grayshon, Commercial Director Welfare Hire, states: “The average age of our assets is two and a half years, and the maximum age is five years. Along with a unique design, our mobile Eco welfare range uses the latest in hybrid power technology and smart water systems, and we tow all our units with our own fleet of low cost, low carbon, modern delivery pick-ups.”
“Our products can make an immediate positive environmental impact,” Grayshon says. “One example of this is the use of Smart XL Water ceramic toilets and services. Traditional welfare units have chemical toilets that are required to be serviced weekly. On top of that, their tank sizes are relatively small – typically around 50 to 80 litres – so you will often be at full capacity very quickly. Our Smart XL Water system, on the other hand, is used as part of a water flushing process like you have at home or in an office, with the tank being up to four times bigger, more hygienic, and longer lasting. This helps to decrease the need for disposal services, and therefore, reduces transport journeys being made to and from the site by around 60 per cent. If you think about that, by using our eco products, you are eliminating hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ annually.
“A second differentiator is our use of smart hybrid power,” Grayshon adds. “We were actually the first in the market to introduce Lithium hybrid power for our units, allowing customers to run off battery power for longer and, consequently, further decreasing reliance on a generator. It means our products can reduce a contractor’s carbon footprint, fuel usage, costs, and even noise pollution. Typically, with our smart hybrid power management, you can achieve up to 94 per cent running time on battery and even guarantee silent running overnight. Fuel usage and costs for many clients drop to as little as one pence per day.
“Finally, while many competitors are using HGVs to deliver their units, we are using our own fleet of modern, Euro VI compliant, low-emission pick-ups, driven by our own experts. This provides efficiencies in terms of site access, flexibility in delivery, and faster set-up times. Our units can now be set up in just six seconds, which is much quicker than anyone else in the market, as well as creating a much smaller carbon footprint. The upshot is that in 2021, all our collections, deliveries and relocations will be quick, easy, low cost and low emission.”
Though many companies quote the environmental benefits of their products, not one of Kelling’s competitors can lay claim to Welfare Hire’s Smart XL Water or Lithium hybrid power systems. Always looking for ways to improve, the Group recently added telemetry to its capabilities, allowing for smarter, more effective remote management of its assets. The result is an unrivalled package of innovative products with a premium service that continues to attract the UK’s biggest and most successful infrastructure firms.
“Some of our latest work has come with utilities contractors as part of the AMP7 national framework,” Grayshon states. “We are also working with Network Rail, as well as a variety of SME and Tier One contractors on CP6, a key rail framework.”
“Kelling is also keen to invest in people, developing skills and expanding its workforce. Over the last 12-18 months, we have continued to recruit, expanding the team so that Kelling can offer more dedicated service, sales and customer support. As we move forward into 2021 and beyond, we’ll continue to invest in the business and core infrastructure areas,” states Moore.
Before each one of its welfare units is delivered to a client, it undergoes a 62-point inspection regime encompassing all manner of mechanical, electrical and functional pre-hire checks to ensure that the product is of a quality beyond the industry norm.
“Going above and beyond in our service is a vital part of maintaining high quality assets, and the work that goes into that requires investment and efficient processes,” Grayshon asserts. “We do everything we can to make sure that our units show up on time, that they work in the way they are supposed to work, and that our clients can rely on the quality of the kit. That’s why we also plough substantial investment into the updating of our fleet, and ensuring that it meets the needs of our clients.”
Of course, though Welfare Hire and its products prove increasingly popular, the business is not Kelling’s sole focus; the Group’s other subsidiary, Access Hire, is an equally thriving operation. Another market-leader in its specialism, Access Hire has a fleet approaching 1,000 vehicle mounted access platforms for safe working at heights of up to 16.5 metres. As well as efficiently serving Kelling’s main infrastructure sectors in telecoms and power, Access Hire also provides solutions for CCTV installation, facilities management and tree surgery – all supported by customer service available 24/7, 365 days a year.
Access Hire was ranked number one for vehicle mounted access platforms in the UK in November 2020 by Cranes & Access magazine. Martin Whitehead, Sales Director Access Hire, states: “Access Hire is the market leader in VMAP hire in the UK. We continually invest and have the largest and most modern fleet in the market, working with our clients to ensure not only the best, most modern assets, but also first class service, which is vital when providing specialist equipment to critical infrastructure markets.”
As part of its brand promise, Kelling pledges to provide quality products and services, unmatched value, and optimal wellbeing onsite – all whilst minimising the environmental impact on our planet. Commitment to this promise has been a key part of the Group’s success over the years, and the importance of the mission remains unchanged in 2021 as Kelling and its subsidiaries move into the future with ambitions for more growth.
“Kelling Group has grown organically, and in some respects under the radar as we’ve quietly gone about our business,” Moore comments. “More people are now becoming aware of us and that’s great because we have some genuinely unique propositions. We can add a lot of value around innovation, sustainability, quality and wellbeing. In the next three to five years, we will become even more established in the market, working in partnership with key clients in our core infrastructure sectors. With our help, we know that our partners across the UK will be able to deliver smarter and more modern approaches to their projects to help future proof their business.”
We’re excited to invite existing and new partners to visit us at this year’s Rail Live outdoor exhibition.
This is a great chance to see the very latest in next generation mobile ECO welfare units and lighting towers. We are launching our next generation range for partners to see first-hand the unique design and features. Our mobile ECO welfare hire and tower lights, are designed for the Rail sector.
Innovations and investment into next generation technology and design include:
The UK’s 1st ECO Hybrid Lithium power system
Smart ECO water WC systems with XL capacity
Telemetry to help better optimise greener and smarter working
Unique designs and configurations for welfare cabin space and dynamic projects
Our dedicated Rail team look forward to welcoming partners new and old within the Rail industry. Come and see how we can help future-proof delivering greener and productive projects together!
For further info in advance, please feel free to contact us at info@welfarehire.com.
This year’s Water Saving Week is all about highlighting the ecological impact of water wastage. As we’ve discussed before, the construction industry has a profound responsibility to rise to the occasion and become more green – and more innovative onsite water usage is a great place to start.
But when we talk about the ecological impact of mobile welfare units and Smart Water wc systems in site welfare hire products, it tends to frame the issue as purely a question of environmental duty. And that overlooks the simple fact that more efficient water usage is not only good for the environment – it’s good for your business. We look at how Welfare Units can save water on site.
The Business Case For Saving Water
To understand the full financial implications of water usage, we need to unpack each element that goes into supplying your site with H2O. While water itself is relatively low cost, keeping your facilities fully serviced and operational brings with it operational and financial overheads.
First, you need to undertake regular servicing to ensure your WC facilities are properly maintained, emptied and replenished. And given that most welfare units require weekly servicing, this adds up very quickly across multiple welfare units and projects.
But you also incur operating and administrative costs in the management of regular water replenishment and waste services. Service vehicle transport and associated externalities, you will notice, are also big sources of CO2 emissions, demonstrating how business and environmental incentives so often overlap.
Ultimately, inefficient waste and water service systems can have a seriously negative impact on the environment and your bottom line – especially on larger sites.
How Smart Water Systems Improve Your Bottom Line
Our fleet of mobile ECO welfare units features innovative Smart Water systems. These systems not only provide up to 4x more hot water for handwashing and water flush ceramic toilets – they also resolve the problems described above.
These Smart Water Systems are extra-large, increasing capacity and therefore requiring fewer servicing intervals. While the average onsite chemical toilet reaches capacity and requires servicing on a weekly basis, our unique XL Smart Water systems are, on average, only 40% full by the end of a single week.
This means they only require servicing every two to three weeks. So you can more than halve the frequency and costs of services, without compromising; in fact, you will actually improve onsite hygiene and facilities, as well as reducing labour and operational costs significantly.
By simultaneously reducing your carbon footprint and the cost of maintaining your onsite water supply, our mobile ECO welfare units empower our partners to help both the planet and their business.
How Welfare Units Can Save Water On Site If You’d Like to See Them For Yourself, Take Our Online Virtual Tour