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THERE AREN'T TOO many international sporting venues in Sussex, but
Page 63
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our second case study is to be found just a short stroll from the showjumping and equestrian centre at Hickstead. Facelift has just finished celebrating 20 years in the aerial access business. The company began when property maintenance man Gordon Leicester came across an advert for an ex-Hong Kong Fire Service cherry picker. Increasing requests to borrow this handy bit of kit eventually led it to take over from property maintenance as Leicester's bread and butter.
While using an access platform was seen as a convenient luxury 20 years ago, the arrival of working at height regulations makes it an essential.
Today Facelift has some 350 items of operated and self-drive access kit, ranging from a 9.5m-high trailer-mounted platform that will pass through a 750mm passageway, right up to some serious under-bridge maintenance machines. We recently dropped in for a look at one of its latest trucks which, while not the biggest in the fleet, is certainly one of the handiest.
The base truck is a 26-tonne Volvo FM9 260 with a nine-speed manual gearbox and a standard-roof sleeper cab. The FM9 6x4 might be a compact machine when measured against eight-wheeled rivals, with an overall length of just 12m, but it is equipped with a Bronto S52 XDT which gives it the reach of a bigger truck. It's this mix of reach and manoeuvrability that provides its flexible edge.
For those of us who still think in feet and inches 52m of height might be hard to visualise, but it equates to nearly 175ft in old money-not far off the top of the 19-floor Quadrant House, CM'S ivory tower where these words are being written. Outreach is nearly 36m, while the availability of one-sided jacking further improves its versatility in crowded locations such as city streets. Jacking and levelling is fully automatic.
There's no point having all that reach if you have to employ a jockey to do the work at the sharp end. While the cage, which can rotate through 902, normally has a safe working load of 440kg, Facelift's example has the 700kg upgrade. This is easily enough to lift two or three men with a generous amount left over for tools, and a 110V power supply is built in. The whole system is computer controlled to prevent its operation outside of safe working parameters.
We'd love to tell you what the view is like from 52m, but someone had to stay on the ground to take the photos...