Liebherr HQ to house cranes

When Liebherr UK opens its £11m, Bedfordshire head office next year it will herald a new way of servicing mobile cranes. At a ceremony to mark the start of construction of the offices in Biggleswade, UK managing director Bruce Field said that, unlike the existing facility, the new 5,000m2 workshop will be big enough to accommodate crane repairs and servicing. While its Welham Green facility can handle excavators, mobile crane repairs to be done on customers' sites or where the machine is working. However, Field believes service and repair will be more effectively carried out in the new workshop. "It works on the continent and if we can show we can do it at the right quality and price, I think people will use it," he said.Field is thinking ahead in the design of the 3.7ha site with the provision of a three-storey office block, although the staffing level of 70 people will initially leave the top-floor vacant. The construction is being undertaken by French Kier, which owns about 60 tower cranes, 40 of which are Liebherr units.