Spider mower maintains slopes for logistics company in the southwest of England
Howard Tenens Ltd is one of the largest privately managed logistics companies, providing tailored storage solutions with over 3,500,000 square feet of high quality warehousing across the UK. They have recently purchased a Spider 1 remote-controlled slope mower for the grounds maintenance of their premises in the southwest of England.
Pip Turley is the proprietor of PT Landscapes, based at Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire. For the past 20 years he has been responsible for the groundscare of Howard Tenens premises in the southwest of England. He explains the reasons behind the purchase of this particular mower.
"Many of the properties in the Howard Tenens portfolio are sunken below the original ground level to mitigate their impact on the surrounding area," he said. "This results in many grassed banks and slopes that have to be maintained. I've always used brushcutters to keep the grass banks presentable, but this was becoming ever-more time consuming as Tenen's opened more facilities in the southwest, so I needed a solution that would reduce the time and enable me to focus on other areas.
"I put a proposal to Howard Tenens and they contacted TH WHITE Machinery Imports, who came down with a selection of machines for me to demo. I'd already discounted tracked vehicles as they have a tendency to tear the turf, so when I saw the Spider, I was literally, blown away; it's an amazing piece of kit! One bank at Tenen's depot in Sharpness used to take between 3-4 days to cut with brushcutters; now it takes less than a day.
"That's a massive improvement in productivity and the finish is much cleaner. Not to mention the health and safety aspects - significantly reduced noise pollution during operation, no hand/arm vibration issues and no awkward standing on slopes with excess strain on hip, knee and ankle joints. Also no possibility of roll-over accidents, if using ride-on machines. This machine has the 'WOW' factor and, as I said earlier, it's a truly amazing bit of kit and one that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to other contractors."