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Flying high at 25!

For Facelift, 2010 is a special year – as it celebrates 25 years of industry leadership and innovation.

It all started back in 1985, when Managing Director, Gordon Leicester, opened shop and the company bought its very first cherry picker from the Hong Kong Fire Department. Since then, Facelift’s success has exploded.

Said Gordon: “We’ve come such a long way, from when I first set up the business. It was paramount that Facelift maintained a personable approach, while still being appreciated for its expertise – this is something the company maintains to this day.”

The company grew as its reputation did and now spans across England with five Facelift call centre depots located in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Southampton and the head office at Hickstead, Sussex. With a wealth of experience in power solutions, Facelift has worked on a spectrum of projects with clients, ranging from highway engineers, to film units, architects and many more. The company’s clients know that Facelift’s personal approach and expertise in powered access solutions, means a high quality service, every time.`

During its rich history, Facelift has had some amazing achievements, including:

·       Becoming one of the first access hire companies to join the International Powered Access Federation in 1988. Becoming a IPAF and PASMA training centre in 1996 and going onto train 30,000 candidates.

·       With new additions of access platforms, from Simon and Condor, in 1989, Facelift, for the first time, can help its clients work at heights over 150ft.

·       In 2000, Facelift rubbed shoulders with Tony Blair, as he signed the plaque, which is placed in the roof of the Millennium Dome, from the cage of a Facelift 55m Bronto.

·       In 2001, the company purchased the 62ft Bronto, which has an impressive reach of 200ft – Facelift’s first.

·       In 2010 – Facelift turned 25!

A bright future

Facelift knows that the current economic climate is a difficult one, and will strive to help its customers succeed in these tough times, with its focus on customer service and helping clients to work more safely.

With a range of equipment available, there is something for every need and no project is too small, with over 60 different types of powered access lifts to choose from. Detailed information is available on each piece of equipment and following Facelift’s easy access policy, you can find the information here. 

Facelift makes a point to see that it always meets its customers specific individual requirements. This has helped it through 2009 and with a robust strategy to take it through 2010; Facelift will adhere to its long-term growth by working in partnership with its clients in its ongoing quest for innovation and quality.

To celebrate Facelift’s success over the last 25 years, the company is inviting clients and suppliers to an exciting summer celebration, to be held on Saturday 17th July. More details to follow, so watch this space!

Join us on our Facebook page where we will also post news updates for our 2010 celebrations and other Facelift activities.

For more information contact Facelift on 0800 521 595

A Merry Christmas to all

Facelift Access Hire wishes all or customers and suppliers a very Merry Christmas and Happiness for the New Year.

Click here to play our Christmas Card

Bronto 34's - three is the magic number

For Kings College London, recent construction works at Waterloo Station and the heavy traffic of central London had taken its toll on their buildings facade. Caked in grime, it was in need of a thorough cleaning up job. Facelift Access was called in for their expertise and the diversity of its fleet. We supplied three 34m Bronto Truck mounted machines for their reach and flexibility and in order to complete the task on time.

We set up the three Cherry pickers at 8am Saturday morning knowing we only had two days to clean this large and impressive site. As the three large booms swung out over the building in the morning sun all involved knew the enormity of the task ahead. The cleaners were poised with their high pressure lances to attack the dirt which had caked itself on the front of the six story building. Facelift’s Machine operators, with their years of experience, were able to accurately manoeuvre the access platforms safely into position and worked efficiently and methodically with the whole team to complete the task over the weekend.

The Job was finished on time and both the client and contractor were over the moon. The well planned and executed job was carried out safely and on schedule, resulting in a building which now looks fresh and welcoming to it's visitors.

Facelift Access Hire has the diversity and flexibility of access equipment to deliver a safe platform for all your needs when working at height.   

Accessing Britain's Heritage

The North Bridge at Cardiff Castle is an important access route for vehicles, recent concerns regarding the capability of the bridge to carry increased loads required a detailed inspection of the structure.

Before work commenced it was necessary for our Bridge inspection team to provide full technical specifications of the under bridge unit to be used, so that calculations regarding point loadings could be approved before the unit was placed on the bridge.

Edward Hill, the Engineer on the project commented "The UB40 was the perfect access platform for the job, the survey went very smoothly".

'Protect employees who work at height' - HSE

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has delivered a stark warning to companies who fail to protect employees working at height saying 'they will be held to account'.

The warning follows a hearing last week at Nottingham Magistrates' Court when Pontiac Coil Europe Ltd, of Queens Drive Industrial Estate in Nottingham pleaded guilty to and was found guilty of a breach of Regulation 6(3) and 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company failed to take sufficient measures to prevent employees falling from a height, after a member of staff fell from a mezzanine floor.

Pontiac Coil Europe Ltd was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,867 costs for the incident on 25 June 2008, when employee, Norman Leonard Cole of Carlton, Nottingham fractured his skull and shoulder and sustained a number of fractured ribs when he fell 2.4 metres from a mezzanine floor. Cole, who was 62 at the time, was dismantling the mezzanine floor surface at the company's premises on Longwall Avenue, Queens Drive Industrial estate in Nottingham.

The company failed to ensure that the work was properly planned, or to take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent Mr Cole falling.

HSE Inspector Stuart Pilkington said: "Falling from height continues to be one of the most common causes of fatal injury to workers, accounting for 58 fatalities in 2007/08 in Great Britain. On this occasion Cole sustained a fractured skull as well as other injuries, and was lucky to escape death."

"More than half (59%) of deaths reported in the construction industry in 2007/08 were as a result of working at height. These incidents are easily preventable and guidance on working at height is available on the HSE website."

Information and guidance on working at height can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm

Up and Under - bridge inspection units

Facelift's Ascendant 17 enables you to reach places where other machines can not. Recently the 17m truck mounted cherry picker was used on Twickenham bridge, as with over 12 metres of out reach it was able to reach over a small side stream, and to get under the arch of the bridge structure.

The truck mounted 17m has the flexibility of outreach and transport height for this type of work and also has the benefit that it can be driven on a standard driving license. This truck mounted platform proves very popular with our customers, many of whom request it time and again.

Nigel Litherland head of Facelift's Highway structure team, recommended the 17m cherry picker to be used after carrying out site surveys to establish most appropriate piece of access equipment.

Facelift access hire signs up to 10:10 campaign

Facelift has signed up to the 10:10 climate change campaign with the aim of reducing our carbon emissions by 10% during 2010. This campaign strives to encourage all of us, as homeowners and businesses to reduce or carbon emissions proactively. 

At Facelift we have already made reductions in our energy use and are focusing further reductions on our onsite consumption of electricity and fossil fuels, our vehicle fuel usage and additional travel. We believe that this will not only benefit the environment but will also be good for our business in the future.

You can find out more about the campaign at www.1010uk.org

Promotions at Facelift Access Hire

Facelift Access Hire is pleased to announce the promotions of Paul Standing to Operations Director and Jane Lawrence to HR and Training Director.  

Paul has been with Facelift for eleven years and his expertise heading up the hire desk has played a pivotal role in developing this side of our business. As Operations Director he will be over seeing the continuity of service across all of our depots to ensure our teams provide the highest standards in Access Hire.  

Jane Lawrence has been with Facelift for eight years now and during this time has made an enormous contribution in developing our IPAF and PASMA training centres. Jane has worked closely with IPAF and PASMA to ensure we meet and exceed the high standards required. As HR and Training Director, Jane will continue to develop and expand our 'working at height' safety training offer and to take care of our Human Resources needs and responsibilities.  

Congratulations to them both for their hard work and commitment, and a wider thanks for all of the support they have received from their teams over the years.

A lighting engineers dream

Facelift Access Hire is pleased to announce the expansion of its van mounted access platform fleet with the arrival of seven brand new Ascendant Access 12.5 VM's.

This investment follows the great success we've had with other Ascendant truck mounted platforms in the fleet, including the Ascendant 22 - 17 and the Ascendant 17 - 12. These truck mounted cherry pickers have proved incredibly popular with both the self drive hire and the operated hire market for being tough, reliable and easily operated vehicles.  

The 12.5 meter van mount will set the new standard for lighting and electrical engineers. There is a whopping 370KG of spare payload capacity, also with kerb side access and all in a 3.5 tonne van. The zero tail swing plus two independently operated booms arrangement gives excellent controllability when manoeuvering.
The Ascendant has a large, insulated GRP cage with a walk in entry door and a 230kg SWL carrying capacity to help maximise productivity.

Since their arrival, these machines have proved to be very popular for their ease of use and the fact that they are such good value, so much so that we have already placed an order for another five.

The 12.5 is available for long term rental and contract hire as well as operated and self drive hire. View the Ascendant 12.5 spec

Facelift take delivery of 20th Ascendant Cherry Picker

Facelift Access Hire has confirmed delivery of its 20th, 17m truck mounted platform from British Manufacturer Ascendant Access. 

The A17m, mounted on a 3.5 tonne chassis has been specifically designed for the UK market and can be driven on a normal car license.

Unique features include permanent one sided jacking allowing the machine to achieve full unrestricted outreach of 12.2m with a cage capacity of 230KG, whilst still maintaining a narrow working width of only 3.2m.

This self drive access platform has built in storage lockers with a carrying capacity of 150KG unique to this type of machine, allowing the user to carry tools and equipment to the job with no need for a second vehicle.

The machines greatest feature is its simplicity. The design brief was to create something simple, easy to operate and maintain. The result is a powered access platform with full hydraulic controls and no need for outreach limiters or complicated electronics.

For further information call 0800 52 15 95 or click here