40 years of Hird – the lifting team that won’t let you down
Hird is marking 40 years in business – and four decades of development that has seen it transformed from a machinery moving contractor to one of the most diverse and successful lifting specialists in the UK.
Peter Hird Snr opened the company for business on January 3rd 1983 with three other employees, offering factory clearance and machinery moving services.
Now Hird, with its headquarters still in Hull, East Yorkshire, operates a mini crane, powered access, lifting equipment and mobile crane hire service from three operational hubs across the UK.
It is also acts as an authorised distributor for crane and lifting equipment manufacturers, selling their products around the world, and has an industrial training arm, with high quality, modern facilities.
Hird also remains one of the UK’s leading machinery moving specialists.
Trusted judgment
Phil Hird, Peter Hird Snr’s son and the company’s Managing Director, said: “We’re proud to be a family business with strong roots in East Yorkshire, but with teams based and working for our customers right across the UK.
“When my dad started out in 1983, he wanted give service based on the best technical expertise and an honest approach to business. That’s how we’ve continued ever since.
“Hird has gone though some big changes over the years, but at the heart, we’re still a lifting company. We know our stuff, whether that’s carrying out lifts, hiring out equipment, or selling it. Customers know they can trust us and our judgement.”
Peter Hird Snr had worked in machinery moving for several contractors before striking out on his own, with an Iron Fairy crane and a Mercedes van, and three employees.
Over the next 15 years, the business grew and moved into crane hire, building a fleet of mobile cranes with brands that included Coles, Hydrocon, Cosmos and Grove.
Hird Test
Access platform hire was added to the service list, with manufacturers like Simon, Pegasus, Condor and AWD supplying their mobile elevating working platforms (MEWPs) to a rapidly expanding fleet.
In 1988, Peter Hird Snr devised a way to measure the endurance of MEWP batteries, which become known across the industry as the Hird Test. It is still being used today.
In 1996, Hird became a distributor for Genie access platform, and in 1999 the company was appointed as the authorised distributor for Valla pick and carry cranes, a position it holds to this day.
Phil Hird had joined the business in 1997. Beginning on the bottom rung, he trained as a mechanical fitter, later serving as a crane operator and a machinery moving specialist.
Peter Hird Snr retired in 2004, and Phil Hird took over as the senior director in 2011.
Pick and carry success
By this time, the company had developed significantly. The mobile crane hire fleet had been largely replaced by Valla pick and carry cranes and spider cranes, supplied first by Unic and later totally replaced by Maeda.
Hird was rapidly developing a reputation as one of the UK’s leading mini crane specialists. In 2009, it won a contract to supply all the spider cranes used to install glass on the Shard, the UK’s tallest building.
Over the years since, supported by the opening of its new London depot in 2010, it has supplied mini cranes and glass vacuum lifters to contractors working on many of the most prestigious skyscraper projects in the capital.
In 2013, it became the UK and Ireland distributor for Winlet, and has since supplied for hire and sold the company’s revolutionary glazing robots and materials trolleys to a rapidly growing range of customers.
While staying true to its founding purpose and values, resting on laurels has never been what Hird is about. Under Phil Hird, the company has continued to grow.
Design innovation
It now employs over 100 people across the UK, not three. It has even moved back into mobile crane hire.
For example, in 2019, Hird strengthened its crane fleet with the delivery of a new Liebherr LTM1060 3.1 mobile crane. Dubbed a smart computer that’s also very good at lifting, the crane has a maximum SWL of 60t.
One of the most compact mobile cranes in its load category the Liebherr LTM1060 3.1 is fitted with the latest computer-controlled sensors and VarioBase stabilisation system. This allows Hird to carry out lifts to be carried out safely and more sustainably in the most challenging conditions.
In the last three years, Hird has also added Oil&Steel, Locatelli and Righetti to its stable of sales brands, acting as authorised dealers in the UK for all these companies.
Hird has always been respected for its technical know-how, working with suppliers to develop new equipment based on an intimate understanding of client needs.
For example, it supported Valla Cranes in the development of its first hydraulic luffing fly jib for its pick and carry cranes, and a highly successful aviation maintenance crane, first sold to Virgin Atlantic and then to other airlines around the world.
Hird has also worked with Wienold Lifte to bring its MFC 750 mini floor crane to market. The company is now expanding its fleet of electric cranes and equipment, giving customers powerful new options for sustainable lifting and low carbon footprint operations.
They include Valla’s new V range of pick and carry cranes that are more compact than ever, with new accessories for even more flexible lifting.
Also, a new generation of electric Maeda spider cranes, like the Maeda MK3053C ECO, with lithium batteries delivering a whole day’s lifting and a maximum safe working load of 2.8t.
Training leaders
To ensure this innovative lifting equipment is safe and productive to use, it has pioneered the development of new training courses, now taken up by accrediting bodies, an example being the LEEA glazing robot course.
Phil Hird said: “We’re determined to stay ahead of the curve in all aspects of technical development for the sectors we have an interest in. Lifting is very fast-paced, and we want to be at the head of the race to offer customers worthwhile innovations.
“Our success proves it’s people who make the difference. We have very motivated, very skilled people, doing what Hird has aways wanted to do – give our customers the right equipment and support to carry out lifts safely and productively.
“That’s going to be the mantra for the next 40 years as well.”
Find out more
Talk to our lifting and powered access experts about your service needs. Contact Hird today.
Email: [email protected]