Partnership has never been more important for ambitious construction and infrastructure projects. With pressure to decarbonise supply chains, improve efficiency and deliver better results faster, who you choose to rely on for strategic equipment is a big question.

That’s why we believe it’s important for our customers to understand exactly what kind of company they are dealing with. But we don’t want to only be defined by our past achievements – we’d rather be understood based on our future.

In this article, we want to explore three factors that form the core of our company’s future – and what we’re currently doing to push things forward.

1. Localised support

Service has always been one of our core strategic ‘pillars’; that’s why we pride ourselves on delivering our welfare vans and van mounted MEWPs anywhere in the UK within 24 hours. But quality service is not only about delivery, maintenance and a responsive support team – it’s about understanding our customers’ specific needs.

The recent opening of our Scottish Depot is a perfect example. With a dedicated team operating out of our facility in the central belt, we are now able to deliver a different level of support to Scottish projects. We provide access to our market-leading range of mobile welfare units, and can supplement that with localised support for our Scottish customers.

This is emblematic of our approach to partnership: as we expand our offering, it is not simply in pursuit of growth – it’s to understand better and cater to our customers’ unique challenges and needs.

2. Investments in excellence

Our fleet has long since been the UK’s youngest and largest. This in turn provides an advantage we are intent on leveraging to continue improving our offering.

We are currently expanding our fleet, purchasing new mobile welfare units, mobile lighting towers and van mounted MEWPs to support growing demand, as well as upgrading existing equipment to ensure it remains the very best on the market. 

Such investments are essential for us to live up to our partners’ expectations. They know we are able to replace key equipment quickly, provide more units whenever needed and keep their projects running no matter what.

3. Solving problems through innovation

At our core, we are a company that focuses on our customers’ deeper needs. Our customers don’t simply need a quality mobile welfare unit; they need a way to reduce their carbon emissions. Our partners don’t just want a van mounted MEWP; they need flexibility and control over where they are able to work at heights. 

This mentality inevitably leads us to innovation, and we are always pushing our fleet forward with exciting new additions. This year alone we’ve launched the EcoXi and our Access Zero fully-electric van mounted MEWP; as well as the recent launch of our new mobile WC products to enhance hygiene and employee experience that also strengthens our proposition.

From providing better access platform training to making green technology more widely available, our approach empowers our partners to solve many of their toughest problems – and benefit from our insatiable desire to continue moving the needle forward.

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Staying on a budget is always a challenge for construction projects. Research shows that nine out of ten construction projects experienced cost overrun, with an average overspend of 28%. But what is more surprising is how predictable the cause of these problems is.

Every project manager knows that the true cost of their equipment is not just the price of hire – it’s the sum of everything it takes to operate it effectively. Vehicles like Mobile Welfare Units and Van Mounted MEWPs are essential for many projects. But what can leaders do to ensure they maximize the value of every unit?

The answer is forecasting

Cost overruns don’t happen because leaders don’t know there will be unexpected costs; they happen because leaders, in some cases, cannot accurately plan for them. There are multiple ways a piece of equipment can lead to unexpected cost increases, which makes it difficult to anticipate the cost. 

This is changing though, as suppliers today can provide far more accurate total cost forecasts – or even offer supply agreements that remove the risk altogether.

Historical data increases accuracy

Welfare Hire is a perfect example of this. Our mobile welfare units and lighting towers run on more sustainable power sources, which dramatically reduces operating costs. But we have also gathered a large volume of data from real projects, together amounting to over half a million operating days, enabling us to build our Eco Calculator.

While every project is unique, the running costs of mobile welfare units and lighting towers are relatively predictable. The ECO Calculator allows you to estimate the savings in running costs you will gain through Welfare Hire with a high degree of accuracy – and finetune your order to fit your budget.

Removing hidden costs

Forecasting is highly valuable, but another way to keep hidden costs under control is to simply remove them. Maintenance accounts for up to 30% of the total cost of most vehicles, which is why Access Hire includes full support and maintenance packages. 

By removing the guesswork around maintenance costs, project managers reduce their risk and enable more accurate budgeting. But this isn’t the only way they can take control of their budgets.

The power of leasing

Access Lease enables leaders to lease their Vehicle Mounted MEWPs for the duration of a project. Not only does this allow them to access best-in-class vehicles at a lower cost – and avoid long manufacturer lead times – it also allows you to spread costs and save as much as 50% compared with loan repayments.

With all of these innovations, keeping strategic equipment costs under control is no longer a question of guesswork – it’s a decision project leaders can make. Whether it’s mobile welfare units or Fully-Electric MEWPs, Kelling Group is ready to support your project in creating visibility, consistency and long-term savings.

Delays are the bane of construction and infrastructure projects. Recent research reveals that roughly 10% of activities on the average site are performed out of sequence¹, with over two-thirds of projects running over budget by more than 10% – and larger projects routinely taking 20% longer than anticipated.

How can these challenges be overcome? One simple solution is to choose the right partners. Suppliers of strategic equipment like Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms (VMAPs) and mobile welfare units should not only offer best-in-class products – they should be expected to support you throughout the project.

Here are four ways this can help avoid delays:

1. Availability

Delivering, collecting and servicing vehicles can be a serious logistical challenge, if your provider has limited access to specific areas and will take a long time getting to your site.

This limits the flexibility of your site, and leaves you vulnerable to unexpected delays. But Access Hire and Welfare Hire each provide both service and deliveries across the entire country. With the largest fleet in the country and an unparalleled delivery network, we are able to get you what you need faster and more reliably than other providers.

2. Specialist knowledge

Vehicle mounted access platforms, mobile welfare units, lighting towers – these are very technical pieces of equipment which require in-depth specialist knowledge. Without that knowledge, it will take longer to service the vehicle – and any issue you experience is more likely to recur.

As specialists in our chosen fields, both Welfare Hire and Access Hire pride ourselves not only on providing the best equipment, but the highest level of expertise. Our team is made up of specialists who know the ins-and-outs of the equipment we offer – to ensure we can offer the best service possible.

We offer detailed advice to our partners at the start of every hire, to ensure the right equipment is selected – and used to its full potential. Then we provide assistance throughout the entire process, so that issues are resolved faster.

3. Fully maintained equipment

Maintenance is essential for key strategic equipment. If your mobile welfare units or vehicle mounted access platforms suddenly stall or experience a mechanical fault, it can completely derail a day’s schedule, as you are unable to complete tasks involving the vehicles. And even if the vehicles do still function, you may be breaking regulatory requirements by using them without proper maintenance.

At Kelling Group, we pride ourselves on avoiding such problems. Both Access Hire and Welfare Hire include rigorous quality checks as part of our standard service offering. This creates a consistent level of quality, ensuring every mobile welfare unit, lighting tower and vehicle mounted access platform we provide is properly maintained- and supports your project, rather than disrupting it.

4. A complete support network

When problems do arise with your strategic equipment, they can often be dealt with very quickly – as long as there is proper support on-hand. That’s why both Access Hire and Welfare Hire benefit from a complete support network – from service teams in the office to engineers in the field.

Access Hire boosts this with a strategic network that enables us to provide 24/7/265 support. So even if your infrastructure project works through the night or early morning, you’ll have access to fast, responsive support if there’s any issue with your vehicle mounted access platforms.

Physical safety is among the biggest challenges for the forestry industry. In the last decade, 24 arborists have been killed while working – and nearly 1,400 have suffered an injury¹. It currently ranks as the industry with the most fatal accidents in the UK – with 8 times more than the second placed Construction ².

Of course, some level of risk is inevitable in an industry where individuals are working at heights and operating equipment like chainsaws and often working alone. But there are many decisions project managers and leaders can make to ensure their people are safe and secure.

In this article, we explore five important ways Welfare Hire and Access Hire help equip our forestry partners for improved safety, using our range of vehicle mounted access platforms, mobile welfare units and mobile lighting towers:

1. Secure vehicles for working at heights

Falling from heights accounts for nearly a quarter of all workplace deaths in the UK³, and is the single most common cause of injury in forestry⁴. This means extra attention needs to be paid to the vehicles and equipment used to undertake such work.

Access Hire’s market-leading Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms provide the robust support workers need to work at heights. With two person baskets and advanced platform controls, workers feel in control and able to navigate challenging conditions with confidence.

2. Comfortable space to rest

The links between poor quality rest and accidents in the workplace are well established⁵. But in an industry like forestry, onsite errors can lead to far more severe outcomes than most.

Welfare Hire’s innovative mobile welfare units are designed to ensure this is never an issue. They provide up to 20% more internal space for rest, along with a range of vital amenities, comfortable seating and high-quality facilities, so your people are always able to relax during down time and stay present on the job.

3. High-quality lighting towers

Working during periods without natural light is vital to deliver most forestry projects. But this leaves you vulnerable to lighting failure – which not only causes disruptions, but can lead to health and safety risks.

Welfare Hire’s eco-friendly lighting towers provide the perfect solution, providing high-quality, energy efficient light that allows you to keep the work area properly lit at all times. The X-EcoHYBRID LITHIUM lighting tower, for example, offers a whopping 445 hours of continuous light per refill.

4. Reliable support

Equipment failure causes disruption to forestry projects – especially those that are in very remote, difficult-to-reach locations. But it also presents a risk to onsite safety, as malfunctioning equipment may lead to accidents or errors.

This is particularly so given the environmental challenges faced by forestry projects; in a recent survey, 15% of forestry professionals cited “Mother Nature” as the single biggest challenge they face.⁶

As a result, these businesses must have reliable support on hand to handle any issues their specialist equipment presents. Both Welfare Hire and Access Hire provide just such help, with 24/7 dedicated expert support available to every client

5. Regular service and maintenance

Reliable support is important, but so are preventative measures. That is why Welfare Hire and Access Hire each also pride themselves on providing regular, rigorous maintenance on all of our vehicles that goes above and beyond the regulatory standards.

We take care of LOLER testing of our vehicle mounted access platforms; every welfare unit undergoes a 62-point pre-delivery inspection; every vehicle mounted access platform undergoes a 50-point pre-delivery inspection; and we ensure seamless delivery of every vehicle, to keep our customers working at all times

The UK railway sector is among the country’s proudest and most robust industries. It contributes £42.9 billion to the national economy, supporting roughly 710,000 jobs¹ and facilitating 990 million passenger journeys annually². 

But what challenges does the industry face? And how can ambitious organisations secure their success in the coming years?

COVID-19 necessitated extreme restrictions, essentially flatlining much of the industry. Yet by the end of 2021, things appeared to be back on track. Confidence in the rail industry had returned to pre-2019 levels, with almost half of all rail businesses expecting healthy growth throughout 2022³.

In this article, we explore four key trends that will define the rail sector over the next 12 months.

1. Supply chain disruption

Supply chain disruptions are wreaking havoc on a number of industries – and few expect the problem to disappear any time soon⁴. With a huge shortage of HGV drivers, logistics firms face a genuine crisis, bringing about severe delays in deliveries and a dramatic dip in economic activity.

This presents rail providers with an opportunity. According to industry estimates, a single standard-length train can take the same load as up to 76 trucks⁵. And while plenty of supply chains already utilise rail freight, the current crisis has prompted many organisations to radically rethink their supply chain management – with an appreciation of the relative reliability and resilience of rail. 

Currently, just 17% of the UK’s freight is shipping via rail – well below the global average of 29%⁶. But the UK government hopes to encourage more firms to utilise rail, with the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme providing funds for organisations looking to introduce rail to their supply chains⁷. 

To capitalise on this, rail operators must be able to properly position themselves. Rail removes the need for 7 million lorry journeys each year, and produces 76% less carbon than road transport⁸. In fact, a recent report from Deloitte showed that each rail freight path on the network has an economic value of up to £1.5 million per year⁹.

By showcasing these facts, rail operators can win more business and expand their impact across the UK economy.

2. Sustainability

Rail is a relatively sustainable option compared to other transport industries, responsible for just 4% of global transport emissions¹⁰. But that doesn’t mean the industry can become complacent, as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scores are likely to become even more essential in the future – and organisations will have to demonstrate their efforts to further mitigate their impact. 

The most common policy suggestion for making railways more sustainable is electrification, as 29% of UK trains still run on diesel¹¹. The Rail Industry Association has already publicly stated that the UK is not electrifying its railways fast enough to meet current net-zero targets¹² – a fact not helped by the Treasury’s decision to block a planned £30 billion investment in railway electrification¹³. But the truth is electrification cannot by itself suffice.

Rail providers need to address the greenhouse gas emissions throughout their entire value chain, in various upstream and downstream activities – from the production of rolling stock and infrastructure work to which Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms they use on-site.

By reducing reliance on diesel, utilising more renewables and ensuring third-party partners have strong environmental credentials, rail providers can further buffer their claim to be a truly sustainable alternative to other forms of transport.

3. Improving customer experience

Rail is responsible for just 8% of the UK’s public’s travel – nearly half of the 14% global average¹⁴. And many experts believe this is due to poor Customer Experience (CX), citing everything from a perceived lack of punctuality to uncomfortable seating. In fact, a recent report confirmed that UK rail passengers believe they receive very poor value for money¹⁵.

There are two key drivers here: ticket price and service quality. 

3a. Ticket price

March saw the biggest train fare rise in 9 years¹⁶, and reports already suggest that certain ticket prices could increase a further 12% by 2023¹⁷. 

All of this is happening amidst heavily publicised rail worker strikes. Billed as the most important protest in decades, roughly 80% of services were scrapped¹⁸ – causing disruption across the entire country. Rail providers therefore find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, choosing between keeping prices down for consumers whilst maintaining relations with their workforce.

3b. Service quality

Rail providers must deliver a more reliable, comfortable experience. Customer expectations are increasing quickly, especially with the launch of new, more modernised services. From wheelchair accessibility to air conditioning, providers are under growing pressure to upgrade their service.

Much of this will be driven by the adoption of digital technology. A recent EY report found that using real-time data to manage capacity could help avoid overcrowding and deliver a more comfortable experience for passengers¹⁹.

4. Modernisation

From Build Back Better to the “Levelling Up” agenda, the UK government has made clear its intentions to invest in improved infrastructure – including modernising the railways. This is most clearly embodied in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, a detailed summary of plans to “replace franchising, accelerate innovation and integrate the railways to deliver a more efficient and financially sustainable railway sector²⁰.”

These are not new efforts, of course. Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan has invested billions of pounds to improve and expand their infrastructure and service delivery since 2014²¹, and will continue to lead the way. 

In 2022, the organisation plans to make a huge range of improvements to its service, from reducing accident risk by 10% and making a 28% reduction in the number of delayed trains to responding more quickly to customer complaints and increasing their workforce’s gender diversity²². The company invested £83 million in 503 railway projects during Easter 2022 alone²³.

The main difference today is the degree of support these efforts will receive from the government – and a push to end the “Fragmentation” of efforts. Just this month, the Department of Transport (DfT) began drawing up legislation to reform the UK’s rail services and infrastructure²⁴, with a mandate to unite all modernisation efforts behind a single “guiding mind”²⁵.

Whatever the legislative outcome, these decisions will have a lasting impact on every organisation involved in the railway sector. And for those that want to gain an advantage, preparing for change is the only viable option.

At Welfare Hire and Access Hire, we believe Men’s Health week is amongst the most important events of the year. The construction industry has a profound responsibility to better protect its health. And this week is all about raising awareness of that fact. 

Mental health is a particular issue. As our research has shown, 40% of construction worker absences are due to poor mental health. And 64% of construction workers say they want their employers to provide more mental health support.

In this article, we help contractors and leaders understand how they can do that – by explore five key ways they can promote better health onsite:

1. Enable comfort

Comfort is not something you immediately associate with construction sites: they are seen as tough environments where hard gets done. But the reality is, enabling a greater sense of physical comfort for employees plays a vital role in keeping workers healthy and happy.

That is why Welfare Hire has focused so heavily on developing state-of-the-art mobile welfare units. By providing more space – and more comfort within that space – we help ensure workers have the proper support to refuel and relax during gruelling shifts.

2. Promote physical safety

Construction sites are notoriously dangerous places to work: the rate of injury for onsite workers is 4x higher than the average¹, and the industry experiences the highest number of workplace fatalities annually².

Instead, businesses must seek long-term solutions – the most obvious of which would be to This is why Access Hire has gone to such great lengths to provide detailed information about onsite safety. By helping you operate Vehicle Mounted Access Platforms more safely, we ensure your workers not only are safe – but they feel it.

3. Psychological safety

The concept of psychological safety is vital for a healthy workplace. It refers to individuals’ sense that they can discuss their feelings or struggles without risking harm – be that actual punishment or social stigma.

This is particularly relevant to the construction industry, as it has often fostered a stoic culture in which workers feel unable to express themselves for fear of being perceived as weak. Only 5% of the total UK workforce that suffers from a mental health condition tell their employers – and that number is significantly lower in construction.

4. Provide flexibility

87% of employees expect their employer to support them in balancing work with their personal commitments. Construction shifts can be guelling, both mentally and physically. Allowing workers to have a meaningful life outside of work is therefore essential

The key to doing this is flexibility. By giving workers more control over their shift patterns, you enable them to choose how they want to balance work with their personal commitments – and give them the space and scope to do so.

5. Don’t overlook management

It is common to emphasise the average employee when discussing workplace health and wellbeing. But research shows that 90% of construction bosses report experiencing mental health issues because of work.

Much of this is down to difficulties in managing a complex worksite. And one way to take this burden off managers’ shoulders is by ensuring that the various partners and providers you work with are both high quality and trustworthy.

At Welfare Hire and Access Hire, we pride ourselves on making life easier for managers. Every one of our vehicles comes with round the clock support, ongoing maintenance and expert advice. We help managers make the best possible decisions – and give them access to the best fleet of specialist vehicles on the market.

If you’d like to learn more about how our offering could improve your employees’ health, contact sales today.