Forward Thinking

Diversity is demonstrated in the scope of work being carried out across the Middle East right now. The feature, p18, highlights a whole range of lifting jobsites – from industrial plant to shipyard, from hotel ballroom to mosque; work is aplenty and rental companies are fast investing in new equipment in order to best take advantage of the opportunities available in the region.

Technological development can be seen most clearly in the power generation feature, p24, which looks at how the use of fossil fuel is rapidly being replaced by electricity as the new medium for powering cranes and specialised transport. Battery development, in particular, has progressed so fast that we now have electric cranes that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

No single battery technology has yet emerged as market leader or industry standard, the situation is more 'courses for horses' at present, but the speed of developments in this sector makes it extremely exciting to report on.

Resilience is manifest in our commercial developments feature, starting p34. Writer Will North notes how, post-COVID, the makeup of cities has changed, with commercial developments and office space diversifying in order to remain relevant. Common across the new commercial landscape is the need for speed, show by the use of fast construction techniques such as tilt-up and prefabrication and the corresponding performance required from cranes, in both efficiency and assembly.

And, finally, investment: in addition to all the crane rentals firms investing in new equipment seen throughout the issue, it's surely a positive sign to have two big investment stories amongst our news pages.

First Sparrows Group, the engineering and maintenance specialist for global energy and industrial sectors, has announced a multi-million pound, three-and-a-half-year contract with pipeline operator INEOS FPS to provide crane and lifting equipment operations, maintenance, engineering, and inspection services on the company’s Unity platform.

Also MYCRANE, the global online platform for the online rental of lifting equipment, has also secured a multi-million dollar sum to fund the next phase of its growth plans.