New Volvo for Hickman Bros Landscapes
A Volvo L45F wheeled loader has been sold to Hickman Brothers’ Landscapes and has been put in charge of the company’s recycling facilities at Fulbrook, near Burford, Oxfordshire. The machine is also the first compact loading shovel to be sold by Volvo’s utility dealer – SM Plant Limited.
Formed in 1990 from a partnership established in 1978 by brothers Fred and Tom Hickman, the company has built up a reputation for providing design, con- struction, hard and soft landscaping as well as environmental improve- ments on a commercial scale, contracting to local councils as well as private domestic projects across much of England. “Our business generates waste on a commercial scale,” comments Terry Hickman (Tom’s son and company secretary). “On all of our contracts we retrieve all the residual waste whether it’s green waste, soils, rubble, concrete or wood so it’s essential to have a robust and reliable machine to han- dle both incoming and outgoing processed materials. The previous machine wasn’t up to the task so we looked at the market for a purpose built loading shovel,” he continued.
The 8.5 tonne wheeled loader from Volvo was chosen after a successful demonstration and a competitive evaluation process and replaces an outgoing tele-handler. Its primary duties will be processing all the incoming diverse range of materials, loading
screens and crushers, rehandling material on site and loading material out either by vehicles or into industrial sized bags for DIY and other outlets to the landscaping trade. The L45F has been supplied with a standard 1.3m3 general purpose bucket to handle the heavier material on site such as rubble, concrete and stones; a 2.0m3 light materials handling bucket for handling soils and a set of pallet forks. Thanks to the Volvo hydraulic quick hitch, the attachments can be changed within seconds. In addition a Groeneveld automatic lubrication system has been specified for the machine. “It’s an initially high cost option but experience has shown that in this application having this feature pays dividends in the long run,” says Mr Hickman. “This is our first experience with a loading shovel and we have high expectations of it going forward. So far we have been impressed with our new Volvo.”
Besides its commercial contracting for hard and soft landscaping, design
and construct services, Hickman Brothers’ Landscapes also oper- ate a small self drive plant hire business and a recycling division from its base and headquarters just outside Burford, Oxfordshire.
SM Plant Ltd is the dealer for Volvo utility equipment including compact excavators, compact loaders and backhoe loaders covering the Midlands and is headquartered in Rugby, Warwickshire.
Hickman Bros’ have high expectations of their new Volvo L45F
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