SUN/002 Monday, August 14, 2023
Advance Construction Scotland move forward with Sunward.
Kattrak International have supplied Ten Sunward machines to Advance Construction Scotland.
Groundworks and civil engineering contractors Advance Construction Scotland (ACS) were so impressed with a trial of a Sunward compact excavator they went on to buy 10 of them!
The Bellshill-based company, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, ended up purchasing nine Sunward SWE 90UFs, which are the shortest nine-tonne short-tail excavators available on the market (by almost 20cm), and a zero-tail six-tonne SWE 60UF from Ayrshire-based plant hire and sales specialists Kattrak International.
The machines are being used across 200 active sites, mostly for housebuilding clients such as Persimmon, Barratt and Grant Homes, and for such main contractors as Balfour Beatty.
ACS plant manager Gareth Mollan explained they typically retire their fleet after three to four years and had needed to replace 17 machines from one particular manufacturer. But due to a shortage of that manufacturer’s, they decided to trial other companies, and the Sunward machines proved to be very competitive both in terms of performance and price.
He said: “The Sunward machines provided better value for money, and although they have only been used on site for a few weeks, all the reports back are extremely positive, so it’s highly likely that our first order of Sunward machines will not be our last.”
Kattrak director Gareth McLaughlin added: “The Sunward machines are proving to be a very popular choice with our customers and Kattrak prides itself in providing a good product backed up with excellent service. We have been supplying machines to Advance Construction Scotland for several years now and it’s always a pleasure dealing with Seamus and Gareth. We look forward to many more years of working together.”
Founded in 1993 by Seamus Shields, the Advance group now comprises six divisions – groundworks, JMS Plant, Advance Utilities, Advance Flooring Solutions, Structureseal Services and the Advance Training academy.
The group employs more than 1,000 people using a fleet of hundreds of plant vehicles worth approaching £20 million to support its bulk earthworks, drainage, road construction, utilities and landscaping contracts.
Note to editors:
With more than 400 engineers working in R&D, the Sunward group has a peerless technical DNA. One of its early successes was developing an electric excavator in the early 2000s, making it one of the pioneers in this field.
A network of more than 140 dealers now covers all of Europe, including 11 in the UK and Ireland. To support this growth, Sunward Europe has invested in new premises in Tessenderlo, Belgium, from where it provides technical and logistical support for this dealer network, with more than 95% availability of spare parts.
As well as spare part storage, the 25,000m2 site has a large stock of machines, a demonstration area, a technical training centre, and a vast workshop for customising machines to meet the needs of the individual European markets.
