Contractors moving towards hand held formwork

Contractors are moving away from heavy crane-handled formwork products to much lighter and more versatile formwork systems that can be installed on site by hand, according to A-Plant Specialist Products, part of Ashtead Plant Hire.

To meet the increasing demand for the latter type of product, A-Plant Specialist Products has taken delivery of an order worth over £600,000 of the EcoAs formwork system from MEVA of Germany for the company's Acrow business. 

Derek Smith operations director for A-Plant Acrow said: "The EcoAs system is a small, versatile and flexible modular formwork system for use in building and civil engineering projects and is available for hire from all 14 A-Plant Acrow locations." 

Assembled by hand, the EcoAs system provides the shuttering formwork for pouring wet concrete in walls, columns, suspended slabs and many other structures.

Part of a planned investment worth over £1m this year, A-Plant placed the initial order for the EcoAs system after a very successful trial conducted by contractor J M Bentley, on a school extension project in Yorkshire - the first time EcoAs was used in the UK.