It all started in the late 1970's. Richard Levack, the now Chairman of the Banlaw Group contacted Bill Law, then MD of the AGD Group to buy a Caterpillar D8H. He travelled from the depths of Lanarkshire to Birmingham to see the machine, a 235 hp direct drive 36A series tractor with winch and cable blade. The deal was struck and so started a businesss relationship and friendship that has passed down to another generation and across many more borders than merely Hadrians Wall!

Over the years many transactions were carried out, in both directions. Volvo dumpers were exported from Aberdeen to Vancouver, a 35 tons IHI crawler crane was supplied to the Isle of Bute, and several Komatsu D65E dozers trundled up and down the M74 on hire!

The latest deal concluded was between Richard Levack and Robert Law, current MD of AGD Equipment. This time for a 40 tons IHI crawler crane, supplied to Cote d'Ivoire a few months ago, pictured below. However it was during this conversations that Richard and Robert were having at this time, that the subject of the old D8H came up again. Robert had seen the machine at a Vintage Tractor Fair in Warwickshire, just 20 minutes from AGD's office at Stratford upon Avon and brought it to Richard's attention. Just a few weeks ago Richard was visiting Bill during a trip to the UK and they took the opportunity to arrange to see the "old girl". Pictured here still bearing the insignia "Levack" on the fuel tank with Richard standing alongside. The current owner SE Davis & Son Ltd of Astwood Bank, Warwickshire intend to restore the machine to her former glory for their museum.

It is a small world we live in, but during these tough economic times it is easy to forget who you've dealt with in the past and go for the best deal on the table at the time. However this has never been the ethos of either Banlow or AGD, which is borne out by the long period of association and trading demonstrated here.

We are pleased to announce our appointment as UK and Ireland distributors for NCB specialist foundation equipment. NCB is synonomous in the piling industry with the manufacture of segmental casings, joints and casing shoes. We will be continuing to supply these accessories to the UK market, but in addition we are launching some exciting products made by NCB which have so far not been seen in these shores.

The first item is a super little product suitable for driving solar panel farm posts or posts for Armco barrier. The NCB 7.0 is a compact machine on rubber tracks weighing just 2 tons that can pitch a 4 m post and drive it with a hydraulic impact hammer. It can also be equipped with a rotary head for pre drilling in harder soils. We have ordered one of these units for our rental fleet which will be available for hire from June.

Further equipment available from the NCB manufacturing line is vertical drain machines for mounting on excavators, diaphragm wall grabs and stop ends, drilling masts for excavators, casing oscillators, rotators, hammer grabs, desanders, tremie pipes and racks and a host of other drilling tools and accessories.

Please click here for further information or call 01789 292227 and speak to a member of our sales team.

New Llamada PK85TT compact CFA piling rig now available for hire! This compact machine weighs just over 30 tons and can drill 600 mm dia piles up to 17 m deep in a single stroke. Easily transportable on a semi low loader trailer this handy little rig is ideal for restricted access development sites in inner cities. It can drill 360 degrees around the tracks and can also be shortened to work in low headroom. Call 01789 292227 now for a quotation!

Click here to download a specification sheet.

We've just been appointed UK & Ireland distributors for the Sennebogen range of cranes!

Sennebogen manufactures state of the art duty cycle cranes from 30-200 tons capacities, telescopic cranes from 8-80 tons capacities and lattice boom cranes from 40-300 tons capacities and has been in business for over 60 years.

Parts & Service will be provided for existing Sennebogen customers and hopefully very soon we will be seeing a few more machines in the market!

Click here to obtain further information.

IHI CCH1200 with 51 m tower boom and 44  m luffing jib on hire to Bourne Steel at Sittingbourne, Kent. The machine is being used to lift steelwork up to extend an existing waste to energy plant and will be on site for approx 6 weeks.

We are pleased to announce that we have been appointed as UK and Ireland distributors for Llamada CFA piling equipment. Llamada have been manufacturing specialist CFA piling rigs for over 40 years and offer machines from 8 to 40 ton metres torque with drilling depths up to 41 m.

We have placed an order for a new Llamada PK85TT for our rental fleet which will be available from April. Pictured here, this machine is extremely compact but yet can still drill 600 mm dia CFA piles to 17 m depth. Ideal for small development sites.

Please contact us for any of your CFA piling rig hire or sale requirements or for Parts & Service for Llamada equipment.

Latest addition to the rental fleet - Fambo HR2750 2.75 tons impact hammer and PR1100 leader mounted on Komatsu PC350LC-8 excavator back driving 9 m long Larssen L606 sheet piles into stiff clay at Moor Park, Nr Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire for JN Piling.

The machine was chosen for its ability to reach out as some of the piles were 10 m away from the piling platform.

This excavator is also available for hire with a Movax SPH80 vibratory hammer. Call the "A" GD team for further details and hire rates 01789 292227

RTG RG19T telescopic leader rig supplied to customer Waikaia Gold in New Zealand. The machine was used to install a huge confferdam for a gold mine in the south Island.

The piles were 17 m long installed to depth through dense gravels without the need for pre augering or back driving. Needless to say the customer was very happy! One of our operators was sent over to train the customers operators and our Chairman Bill Law took these photos on a recent visit.

Our latest addition to the telescopic crawler crane hire fleet - the baby Marchetti Sherpina CW25.35 25 tons capacity crane at work in London, servicing a basement for Glenna Civil Engineering.

The small footprint makes these cranes perfect for restricted access sites. Once again no room to swing a cat, but we're used to that!