UKD Diggers Grows with New Bobcat Compact Excavators
UKD Diggers Limited, the plant hire business based at Hilton in Derbyshire, has expanded its operations with the purchase of 18 new Bobcat compact excavators from Butler Reynolds, the Authorised Bobcat Dealer based at Costock near Loughborough. The new additions to the UKD Diggers fleet comprise models with operating weights from 1.0 to 4.5 tonne and include new Bobcat E10, E17, E25 and E45 mini-excavators.
All of these models are part of the latest E-generation of machines from Bobcat designed to provide an unmatched combination of class-leading breakout forces, working range, smoothness of workgroup functions, hydraulic output and fast cycle times, centred around a roomy and comfortable operator environment, durability and excellent service access.
Dave Bennett, a Director at UKD Diggers, said: “Since we were founded in 2008 in the throes of the recession, we have built steadily from small beginnings around a fleet that included several new Bobcat 321 1.5 tonne excavators we purchased at the time from Butler Reynolds. As demand picked up, we added E62 6 tonne and E85 8 tonne excavators two years ago from Butler Reynolds, shortly after they were launched by Bobcat.
“We have continued to see growth in every sector from local builders and landscapers using our micros to groundworks contractors and housebuilders renting our bigger machines. The new Bobcat excavators will allow us to better meet the increased demand and to extend our current customer base by going after new business as we are much better equipped to support new customers now.”
Before any machinery purchases, UKD Diggers undertakes extensive research into the manufacturers and the products they offer, to assess the best machinery for specific tasks within each market sector. Nigel Long, a Director at Butler Reynolds, said: “The new Bobcat excavators underwent the same exhaustive competitive examination for performance and cost-effectiveness which characterises all the equipment in the UKD Diggers fleet and passed with flying colours. It is not surprising that Bobcat continues to take a significant share of this market with a range of mini-excavators covering operating weights from 0.8 to 8.5 tonne.”
Butler Reynolds is the Authorised Bobcat Dealer for Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Rutland, Birmingham and the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. As well as the Bobcat range of compact excavators, Butler Reynolds is responsible for sales and service of Bobcat compact loaders and telehandlers in the same areas. The company also offers for sale over 70 different types of Bobcat attachments that help to deliver versatility and time-saving efficiency across a huge range of applications.
“In the face of stiff competition, we chose Butler Reynolds and Bobcat because of the attractive deal they offered, backed by the excellent service and support we know Butler Reynolds have provided us for years. In a similar fashion, we always aim to go the extra mile for our customers providing a service that only an independent plant hirer can offer, with market-leading machines that arrive in tip-top condition, fully fuelled and ready for work. We have an expanding customer base in which every client is as important as one another from some of the UK's top names in civil engineering to our local businesses throughout the Midlands and South Yorkshire,” said Dave Bennett.
One of UKD Diggers’ customers is Clixbys Forest & Environment Contractors (www.clixbys.co.uk), based in Oakamoor in Staffordshire. Clixbys offers more than 30 years of experience and an unrivalled record in planning and executing rural and environmental improvements that balance the access needs of people and those of the countryside itself. Clixbys generally works within a 150 mile radius of Oakamoor, predominately in North Yorkshire, the Yorkshire dales, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, but the company is increasingly working further afield with projects as far apart as the Lake District, the West Country and Wales.
Managing Director, Hugh Clixby, said: “We have been a long-standing customer of UKD Diggers since the company started. When we require additional equipment to supplement our own fleet of excavators, tracked dumpers and self propelled rollers we generally use UKD Diggers. We like the dedicated service offered by UKD Diggers as an independent concern and work closely with them. Dave and Matt will always go the extra mile to help and because their drivers know our business and projects so well, it is an easy task for them to move the equipment we hire directly from one of our sites to another. We have many attachments to fit their machines and over the last two years, UKD Diggers has also given us some storage space for our tilt buckets and tilt rotators. We find these work really well with the quick hitches on the Bobcat excavators.”
Mountain biking is the fastest-growing sport in Britain today, and building mountain biking trails has now become Clixbys’ core activity, specialising in the design and construction of purpose-built mountain biking trails to entice and thrill riders of all abilities. The company will take on the construction of a mountain bike trail from the macro or micro setting-out stage of the project, through to completion and opening. Clixbys has built cross country, downhill and 4x courses, with every project completed on time and within budget.
The trails are predominantly machine built using excavators, including the Bobcat zero tail swing machines from UKD Diggers, for maximum power to footprint ratio, fitted with tilt/rotator units for digging, shaping and grading versatility, after which the trails are hand finished by the company’s specialist trail finishers.
Hugh Clixby added: “We are often called in to repair and maintain existing trails. Recently, we used a Bobcat E10 micro-excavator from UKD Diggers to recondition a trail in the Whinlatter Forest in the Lake District. We first built this trail in 2008, using a 5 tonne zero tail swing machine - the trail is on a very exposed mountain top, with a steep side slope. Eight years later, the trail had become very narrow (600 mm in places) and completely natural in look and feel. We hired a Bobcat E10 from UKD Diggers and put our own Power Tilt pick up on it, and due to its narrow footprint and zero tail swing, negotiated the trail and all its features (which included slab rock, rock steps, stone pitched drops and tree roots) brilliantly. You honestly couldn’t tell we had taken a machine along the trail. After the E10 had finished, the trail was as good as new.”
Clixbys is currently employing a Bobcat E85 excavator hired from UKD Diggers with a tilting bucket for mid-harvest repairs on Category A forest roads in Laughton Wood near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. The E85 is being used to remove harvesting debris from the road surface, restoring the camber on the roads and resurfacing parts of the roads where necessary. The next job for the E85 is on a golf course project in Berkshire.
Clixbys’ customers include the Forest Enterprise and many other management companies on a range of contracts, using Bobcat excavators rented from UKD Diggers for applications such as mounding on restock sites, de-stumping and site clearance work for major civil engineering projects. Clixbys also undertakes a wide variety of low-cost civil engineering projects using Bobcat excavators from UKD Diggers, including temporary extraction routes, turning heads, bridges, culverts and car parks. The company can also crush rock on site, if local planning allows, and build gabion baskets.
Hugh Clixby added: “We have purpose-built rake and thumb attachments for mounting on 360° excavators, as well as heavy-duty flails and stumping equipment. Our zero tail swing excavators and flail attachments are ideal for removing understory in mature woodland and re-spacing natural regeneration to produce a commercial crop. We work closely with the engineers, recreation departments and any local rider groups that may be involved. High-profile projects to date include the 38 km Dalby red route, the new Kitchener trail in Sherwood Pines and the high-level, high-exposure and high-fun Altura trail at Whinlatter complete with the Rough Riderz descent.
“We have completed many projects in the Peak District National Park and surrounding area, working with the PDNPA, the National Trust, Severn Trent Water, Forest Enterprise and Sheffield City Council. The projects have included all-ability trails, easy access paths, woodland walks and bridleway construction and improvements. We always use local aggregates, and thousands of people have walked, run, ridden and cycled over our work which we fit perfectly into the local environment.”
The easy-to-transport Bobcat E10 one tonne micro-excavator is a zero tail swing (ZTS) machine with a maximum digging depth of 1.82 m and a machine weight of 1077 kg. The E10 is powered by the Kubota D722 diesel engine providing maximum net power (ISO 9249) of 7.4 kW.
The reduced tail swing E85 model is powered by the Yanmar 4TNV98C-VDB8 Stage IIIB compliant diesel engine providing 44.3 kW of power at 2100 RPM. The E85 has a maximum digging depth of 4.63 m and a machine weight of 8600 kg.