A host of new Hyundai excavators are helping pave the way for new homes in London with Enfield based firm ODG Plant.
ODG Plant is the plant-hire arm of multidiscipline construction company Galldris Construction, which is working on the massive redevelopment project, centred around Silvertown on the north bank of the River Thames in East London.
Here plans are underway to create a new riverside community on former industrial land, which overlooks the Thames Barrier and is close to Canary Wharf and London City Airport – Galldris Construction has taken a slice of the work.
ODG Plant is a longstanding Molson customer – the company has recently updated its fleet with the introduction of several new excavators from Hyundai, in a deal brokered by Molson area sales manager Stuart Butler.
The company has taken five Hyundai HX145LCR and five HX220L crawlers as it looks to revamp its existing fleet of machines.
The latest additions are fully compliant with the latest and future emission requirements for working in the capital with the addition of AdBlue.
Initially the firm was reluctant to take the machines where AdBlue was a requirement but after reassurance from Stuart over the simplicity of its use the ODG team were happy to go with the latest Stage-4 compliant HX series of excavators.
“We like to keep things simple and adding AdBlue is just another thing for our operators to remember.” said Craig Brown, manager at ODG Plant Hire. “We want them to be concentrating on their work and not distracted by anything else. However, safety and limiting our negative impact on the environment is very important to us as a company and Molson reassured us that the adding of AdBlue really is a very straightforward process.”
One of the reasons the ODG team took the HX145LCR excavators is because of the zero-tail swing they offer. Not only is this feature a H&S bonus but it is also beneficial for on-site productivity, enabling larger, more powerful machines to work in tighter spaces – essential on compact inner-city projects.
“The ODG team like the zero tail-swing of the HX145LCR’s. They are compact, powerful excavators. Perfect for the work that Galldris Construction has lined up for them,” says Stuart.
With an operational weight of 15.16tonnes the HX145LCR is powered by a Perkins 1204F direct injection Tier 4 air cooled engine which delivers a maximum torque of 54Kgf.m at 1400rpm. They have a height of 3.25m, are 2.5m wide with a tail swing radius of 1.5m. They boast a maximum dig reach with a 1.9m arm of 7.73m, a dig depth of 4.89m and a maximum dig height of 8.84m. Minimum ground clearance is 440mm.
The HX220L crawler is one of the larger machines on the ODG Plant fleet. With an operating weight of 22.1tonnes it is powered by a Cummins QSB6.7 turbo charged Tier 4 air cooled diesel engine that delivers a maximum torque of 85/7Kgf.m at 1500rpm. It’s 3.2m high with and overall length of 9.53m and 2.99m wide and has a tail swing radius of 2.84m. With the 2m arm its maximum dig reach measures 9.14m with a dig depth of 5.82m. Maximum dig height is also 9.14m while minimum ground clearance is 480mm.
Craig is happy with the performance of both the Hyundai excavators and the post sales back-up and servicing he has received from the Molson team. He said, “The Hyundai’s have come a long way since the first 14tonner we had. We have stuck with them because the machines have been well backed up by both Molson and Hyundai themselves.”
Craig added, “We have a mix of machines. Our fleet isn’t 100% Hyundai but we have been more than happy with the machines we have had. It’s because of Molson that we keep going back to Hyundai. The amount of effort the Molson team put in to make the deal work is rearkable. They know what they are talking about, they understand the machines. They help make life easy for us which in turn helps us in our work.”
And that work could see the ODG Plant team move from being an in-house hirer to hiring out to other contractors.
“It is something we are looking at. We have a large fleet that we could hire out to other contractors. We have hundreds of machines. Everything from 23tonne down to 1.5tonne excavators as well as rollers, dumpers and most other pieces of equipment. We have been solely focussed on hiring to Galldris Construction and, although that will remain key, we may be looking at the opportunity to start hiring some of our equipment out to the wider market,” concluded Craig.
“We have developed a working strong relationship with ODG Plant.” Said Stuart. “We look forward to that relationship continuing into the future as the business develops.”
