CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
constructionmanagermagazine.com
Construction Equipment
PIPELINE PUSHES PLANT’S NET ZERO INNOVATIONS WITH RECORD-BREAKING ORDERS, THE CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT SECTOR IS PUMPING INVESTMENT INTO DIGITAL AND ECO TECHNOLOGY. PETER HADDOCK REPORTS Yards are empty, JCB has just signed its biggest ever deal worth £65m with hirer Sunbelt Rentals UK and the scramble for new construction equipment has even seen the import of machines from Europe and beyond. With HS2 and housebuilding filling the pipelines, manufacturers are enjoying demand not seen since the motorway boom era of the 1960s. The recent market stats from the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) put this into perspective with a 30% jump in sales of new equipment in Q1. However, in the backdrop, regulatory changes are pushing the sector towards greener machinery and greener fuel, including the end of the subsidy on red diesel next year (see p34). This month also sees another low emissions zone introduced, in Birmingham. “Net zero is dominating everyone’s agenda,” says CEA CEO Rob Oliver. “One of our members applied for a loan recently and the bank wanted to see their sustainability policy before they’d approve it. So it has moved from the theoretical to the actual.” Hydrogen and electric power New eco-friendly machines include a hydrogen-powered digger from JCB and an electric excavator and wheel loader from Volvo Construction Equipment. Skanska has promised that all plant on its sites will use hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) 32 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER JUNE 2021
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18/05/2021 14:07