Hubbway’s new premises has been designed to improve productivity. Among the many useful features is this in-ground lift, which can elevate machines up to 40 tonnes to head height.


productivity, with a number of key features as Nick explains: “In the workshop we have overhead cranes which can lift an excavator frame off the track frame and anything up to 15 tonnes. We have the facility to repair our own HEV vehicles, we have brake rolling to check the brakes on our road vehicles. We have in-ground lifts that can raise machines up to 40 tonnes, so we can work at head-height. We have our own paint oven that can accommodate commercial vehicles and plant. We have our own shotblasting facility and we have a fabrication shop where we can make our own buckets and attachments. And we have our tower crane for offloading wagons. It all makes everything quicker and more streamlined.”


The site itself is surrounded by a substantial yard, which is neatly ordered by equipment category and is surveyed, almost in its entirety, from a tall chair at the top of the facility - as pictured. How does the fleet break down?


Make it so! Hubbway's Hire Manager, Chris, surveys the yard.


“We have around 150 telehandlers, including 4 to 25 metre rotos and 6 to 12 tonne heavy-lifts from Merlo and Manitou,” says Nick. “We have a large and comprehensive range of attachments (in a distinctive shade of pink), including drum-carriers, pipe-grabs and lifting hooks, and we can design and fabricate special attachments when required. This doesn’t


happen very often, but we’ll do this if it solves a customer’s problem.


“We have a mixed fleet of excavators from Hitachi, Kobelco and Kubota, and we have recently invested in 13 tonne self-propelled rollers from Hamm. We also have a big fleet of fuel tanks, going up to 25,000 litres for static bowsers and 9,000 litres for mobile units - these go well on big muck-shifting, infrastructure and quarrying projects. Our Adblue tanks are also becoming popular. I understand that we should be working towards lowering emissions, but I don’t think the technology is quite there yet and a lot of mechanical problems are to do with Adblue issues at the moment.”


Moving on and to the question of family relationships. They’re often even more fraught, but how has it worked for Nick?


“I’m very lucky with my father,” he says. “When I was about 26 he made me the MD and he stepped away from the business. He’s still able to advise, though, and many of the problems I have today are the same as he had 40 years ago, whether it’s a human resources


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issue, dealing with a loss adjuster through to stolen plant, which has definitely increased since the lockdown.”


And so COVID enters the conversation, unprompted. Nick had to make a small number of redundancies, but how else did it effect the business and what did Nick learn?


“We got quite a few new accounts during lockdown, I think because a lot of our competitors had closed down but we were here every day. Otherwise it’s been a broadly positive experience for me. I learned not to put up with inadequate people, which is something I’d put up with for too long. It might sound draconian, but the boss is the boss for a reason. Nobody is bigger than the business, but businesses are created for everybody. It has to be a happy workplace, and if everybody understands their responsibilities and is doing their bit it should be that way.”


Rounding off, and Nick has a few final thoughts.


“The old model for plant hire doesn’t work anymore. Some of us are brought up with the idea of getting a return on capital investment within three years, but people aren’t doing that now. Finance companies have made it too easy to obtain funding, leading to an over-supply of equipment and new competitors.


“This business is only good because of the people in it and the passion they have for the industry. I would hate to see anything which changes that.”


• www.hubbwayhire.co.uk


The Hubbway yard is dominated by its very own tower crane.


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