When it came to keeping the sparkle on Manchester's new Urbis building, a shimmering, glass structure rising high above the city's Millennium Quarter, specialist contractor, Manchester-based Tudor Contract Cleaners, opted for a powered access solution provided by Nationwide, the country's largest powered access rental company. Using truck mounted booms from Nationwide's Skylift fleet that provided 35-metre and 50-metre working height platforms, the company is carrying out quarterly cleaning of the 2,200 glazed panels on the double-height foyer, six- storey building.

Tudor Contracts chose Nationwide powered access as it was the only cost effective way to clean the fenestration of the £35 million building - which houses the world's only funicular that is totally enclosed in a building - that was opened in June of 2002. The decision to opt for Skylift truck-mounts was greatly influenced by the ability to move them on, around and off the city centre site quickly and efficiently, and for them to be fully operational within minutes of their arrival on site.

Another major consideration was truck-mounts' outreach capabilities that enable the work platform to reach over pavements and other obstacles and provide access to otherwise inaccessible parts of the building for Tudor Contracts' staff. The 50-metre working height Skylift T50B provided a maximum outreach of 30.7 metres for the 2.2-metre by 0.9-metre platform, while the smaller T34B, with its 35-metre working height, gave 24.7 metres of outreach for its 1.8-metre by 1.0-metre platform.

Nationwide supplied a fully qualified and experienced driver/operator for both machines, as they exceeded the working height restriction imposed for self-drive hire. They were hired from the company's Manchester Master Skylift depot - one of six strategically located throughout the UK - although any of the 50 Nationwide depots can arrange the hire of Skylift equipment and a driver/operator.

Nationwide is part of the publicly-quoted Lavendon Group Plc and is headquartered in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. The Group is European market leader in the powered access rental market, trading under the name Zooom in Germany, France, Spain and Austria. Full details on the Nationwide offering of booms, scissor lifts and truck mounted units - including the T34B and the T50B hired by Tudor Contracts - are included in Nationwide's new Guide to Powered Access, and can be found at www.nationwideaccess.com

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March 2003 Nat3.083a