United’s winning line-up
18 July 2023
A recent series of open days with working demonstrations held at each of its European locations gave a fascinating overview of the United Rentals operation serving the UK and the rest of this region.
Part of the North American hire giant that describes itself as the largest equipment rental company in the world – with 1,465 locations in North America and Canada, 14 in Europe, 27 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand – the European activity was established in 2018 when United bought and eventually rebranded the specialist BakerCorp fluid handling equipment business, another US-based organisation but one with additional locations in the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK.
The European business has maintained its specialist focus, serving chiefly industrial and utilities markets. Eighteen months ago it added more power generation equipment as a logical adjunct to its fleet.
As Andy Whiteley, United Rentals General Manager UK told me, “It’s a niche market, but a big one.” And he says the fleet profile is steadily expanding to meet new customer needs.
I attended last week's open day (above) at the United Rentals UK head office in Brigg, North Lincolnshire, which highlighted key products in the portfolio and their typical applications. The range essentially includes equipment for transferring, containing and treating liquids, together with items like pumps and generators.
The working display simulated a site that had to remove solids from waste water and correct its pH balance, although obviously clean water was used for demonstration purposes. A double-wall tank held the simulated waste water, fitted with a level control to monitor operation and to avoid the pump overflowing or running dry.
A 4in diesel pump sent the water to a rotary drum sieve (below) to remove coarse particles like stones and plastic, and a dewatering box collected these solids. A buffer tank platform balanced the outgoing flow and a 4in electric pump supplied the water to a treatment tank.
A controller monitored the pH level and a dosing unit could administer any chemicals required to balance it. Andy said the equipment can also supply other treatments like flocculants to collect smaller contaminants. Heaters and ventilators can maintain substances at optimum temperatures.
United Rentals UK has invested significantly in power generation equipment in the last 18 months with a generator fleet comprising JCB machines. A 60kVA diesel model provided power for the open day installation, together with a 45kVA Powrbank Pro battery pack (below) from Powr2 - which, coincidentally, is based in Connecticut where United Rentals has its HQ. This reduces generator running time, decreases emissions and gives silent operation when equipment is powered purely by the battery.
Various distribution board assemblies directed power to the pumps and other equipment.
The display at Brigg was certainly impressive. Kevin Jackson, United Rentals Area Sales Manager UK, told me that demand for this kind of carefully controlled site solution is increasing because of the environmental responsibilities and cost considerations that contractors now have to meet.
He adds that cleaning and reusing water cuts costs and reduces the need to move significant amounts of fluids and solids, while separating out the waste and contaminants from bulk quantities of water means that disposal costs are reduced. The automatic control systems and eco-friendly power generation equipment can also optimise site performance.
The United Rentals UK fluid and power equipment fleet contains many other intriguing specialist items. These include large containment tanks with rear axles that can be driven to site and positioned without needing a crane, and road plates (below) that can incorporate pipes and cables so that vehicles can drive over them without causing damage.
As well as the Brigg location, United Rentals UK has a depot at Bridgend and also in Warrington which opened earlier this year. Andy says that more branches are planned as business continues to expand: perhaps one might say they’re in the pipeline…
Photos: Alan Guthrie
