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THE HOGAN GROUP
Page 42
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Tlie Hogan Group HQ is located in a miniature valley a mile from Bangor, Gwynedd. "This is a construction materials company," points out sales manager Kevin Hogan. "We quarry the aggregates, manufacture ready-mix concrete and undertake road surfacing work." The company was started by the four Hogan brothers— Brian, Peter, Terry and Cohn—in 1963. Kevin is Peter's son. Hogan says: "We have two quarries on Anglesey. We bring granite from these quarries here to our depot."
The conveyor belts, sheds and cement mixers, all resplendent in a striking orange, underline the fact that this is predominantly an own-account operation. Road surfacing materials and the ready-mix concrete are hauled across North Wales.
The company runs seven trucks: five cement mixers with interchangeable bodies, which can transform into tippers, and two 44-tonne Daf 95XF 460 6x2s. Do the cement mixers pose any unusual complications? "They are more complicated machines than tippers," reports Hogan. "The mixers are operated by hydraulic pumps; we frequently have to replace the blades in the drum—I'd say about every twelve months."
It takes 20 minutes to swap a cement mixer body for that of a tipper or vice versa, he adds. The Hogans also run two Kel-Berg asphalt bulker trailers. "It's important to keep the asphalt hot," he informs us. "The Kel-Bergs are the most Stable bulker trailers, without a doubt. This is important because we do not always tip on the flat."
The Hogan Group is made up of four arms, each of which is a separate trading company. There is Hogan Ashfeit, Hogan Concrete, Gwyncly Quarries and Hogan Construction. The construction division operates 20 pieces of plant, consisting of pavers, rollers, and tractors. Hogan says: "These have to be constantly moved. To do this, we have two Andover law-loaders. We can get three items of plant on each trailer."
The 44-tanners are actually permitted to gross at 46 tonnes, with a STGO CAT1 badge. Some pieces of plant, such as the rollers, are transported in pieces and assembled on site.
"We have to contact the police and tell them where we are going with the STGO loads; with these we always have to notify the police, although at 46 tonnes we don't need a police escort," he adds.
The four divisions enable the Hogan Group to provide an entire service for many construction projects. The company can take care of an entire road-building scheme: supplying the engineers, the aggregates, the tippers, and the necessary plant equipment.
Daf is the trusted marque at The Hogan Group. "It really makes an excellent product; the trucks are economical and have a strong residual value, and the back-up from Holyhead Truck Services is second to none," asserts Hogan.
Any trouble securing Class 1 holdersP "We don't tend to have a problem recruiting drivers—we tend to pay more than anyone else."