ECL Civil Engineering Limited have become the first company in Britain to take delivery of the new Komatsu PC170LC-10 Hydraulic Excavator. The Bedfordshire based groundworks and civil engineering contractor has purchased four of the 17 tonne excavators, to initially work on various new housing schemes in the South Midlands.
“We currently operate a fleet of over 70 JCB Excavators, mostly the 20 tonne JS220 and 13 tonne JS130’s” says Director and Co-owner Sean Hoare. “With an increase in the number groundworks contracts from existing customers, we were looking to fulfil this demand by expanding our fleet further. We specifically were looking for a mid-sized excavator in the 13 – 20 tonne range. As we have found that for housing groundworks contracts, that the 20 tonne excavators are a bit too big to easily manoeuvre around a compact site, whilst the 13 tonne machines are too small to carry out works such as pulling drag boxes for drainage work”.
“We researched the marketplace and we were surprised by how few excavators were available in this weight range, so when we discovered that Komatsu were introducing the 17 tonne PC170LC-10, we made contact with Marubeni-Komatsu Ltd to find out further details. After reviewing the machine specifications and agreeing a deal with Marubeni-Komatsu we placed the order for the four machines, as well as a PC210LC-8 excavator and a PC160LC-8 excavator.”
“These are the first Komatsu machines that we have run and since the machines were delivered we have been pleased with their performance, fuel consumption and reliability. The PC170LC-10’s have been powerful enough to do the jobs required, whilst the shorter back end of the excavator has made them ideal for housing construction projects, where typically we handle all the Infrastructure and ground works up to Floor Slab. The operators have also been impressed with them too; commenting on the comfortable and quiet cab, plus their good manoeuvrability and stability.”
Sean concludes; “Image is particularly important to us and working with great brand names such as Komatsu, helps us to further differentiate us from the competition as a quality company.”
One of the machines on the site of a new housing scheme
Paul Finney Area Sales Manager for Marubeni-Komatsu adds; ‘The PC170LC-10 is an excellent all round excavator and I am delighted that ECL Civil Engineering have been the first to take delivery of the new machines. They have showed their confidence in Komatsu by placing a further order for 12 five tonne PC55MR-3 mini excavators, which will also be used on housing developments, for external works such as slabbing, edging and landscaping. I am sure that this will be the beginning of a long and successful relationship between our two companies”
ECL Civil Engineering Limited are a Bedfordshire based groundworks and civil engineering contractor. Their clients include such well-known house builders as Bloor Homes, Bellway Homes and Crest Nicholson. To find out more information about their company please visit their website at: www.eclcivils.co.uk.
