Perth-based Urban Crane’s fleet just got a whole lot bigger following the acquisition of FG Cranes (FGC) assets. Cranes and Lifting spoke to Urban Cranes directors Drew Wright and Anthony Ivanhoe about the development.
Drew started in cranes and rigging and Anthony in construction in 2006 and they worked together for a number of years in the Perth construction game. Drew went on to fly-in-fly-out projects working at Barrow Island and iron ore construction projects, while Anthony went on to establish Urban Cranes in 2014.
“I approached Drew at the end 2015 to join the Urban Cranes team as our operations manager,” Anthony states. “Initially, we started with mobile cranes and in 2016 when Drew joined, we purchased our first tower crane.
“Wherever we could we purchased the Potain tower cranes as well as Grove mobile cranes, and between 2016 and 2024, we built the tower crane fleet up to 20 with varying capacities.
“Our reason for aligning ourselves with Potain and Grove goes back several years, the support and trust we have experienced sealed a bond between us early.
“We focused the tower crane fleet on the small end of the market. At that time the market was dominated by FGC and we didn’t want to compete,” said Anthony.
Drew explains where the mobile crane side of the business sits.
“Since 2018, we have been working directly on the Government Alliance infrastructure projects in Western Australia, this work includes bridges and noise walls, horizontal construction on the freeways and the major highways that are local to Perth. We’ve established a proven track record working for major clients such as ACCIONA, BMD, NRW and Georgiou.
“In the early days, our strategy was focused on staying diversified in multiple areas which ultimately created multiple large opportunities for our business, and as a result our rate of growth has been rapid”, said Drew. “We are seeking the right people, the right clients and the right projects. We want to work with clients who see value in us, and we see value in them. We have a strong set of core values and we’re focused on providing a service that exceeds our client expectations.
“Infrastructure projects work well for us. We are in partnership with our clients and are both focused on getting the job done”.
Anthony explains how the FGC development came about.
“John Stewart from Manitowoc put FGC and us together. We didn’t know them prior to the deal, and he understood the owners were thinking it was time to exit, which presented us with the opportunity to talk.
“We sat down with the owners, and we could see both parties were aligned and committed to making a deal work.
“Over the next four months we worked on valuations and finance terms which ultimately resulted in the deal being settled in October. We had the smaller tower cranes in the market, and FGC typically had the bigger cranes, and it was the same with our mobiles. We could see their assets would plug the holes that we didn’t have across our crane fleet,” he said.
“There were huge synergies in combining the fleet. It was the same with the staff, the capabilities of their staff versus the capabilities of ours showed it would be a relatively seamless integration. Manitowoc Finance played an integral role in the acquisition, massaging the package and providing strong support to ensure the best ‘cranes and finance package’. As everyone knows, cashflow is key and Manitowoc Finance has been very creative to get us an initial footing in the industry and then enable us to financially manage this massive influx of cranes. They are great to work with,” said Anthony.
Since the acquisition of FGC’s assets Urban Cranes fleet has increased significantly and includes:
• 13 mobile cranes including the Grove GMK6400
• 60 plus tower cranes
• Crane Deck loading Platforms
• Transport equipment
• Access equipment
“We’ve got a decent-sized fleet of mobiles and we are focused on project work. If we have the cranes available we will take on the taxi hire work, but it’s not our core business,” said Drew “We have our mobiles and we have our tower cranes, we install and dismantle with all our own plant, equipment and personnel.
“We don’t have the largest mobile fleet, but we do have the largest tower crane fleet in Western Australia, including 33 luffing cranes.
“We also have a really strong management and leadership team, for the tower crane division – Andrea Baravelli – a structural engineer who has been working with Potain tower cranes for 20 plus years. Andrea plays a key role in the tower crane division, Urban Cranes being the only tower crane provider in WA that has an in-house engineer.
“Geoff Brown is our operations manager for the tower crane division. Geoff also has 20 plus years’ experience in the tower crane industry and with Potain Cranes, his experience is passed onto our team as well as our clients and their projects.
“Adam Hills is our operations manager for mobile cranes and project work and he’s been with us for three years. He’s a great asset to the team with 18 years construction experience. We do a lot of precast lifting, which requires a specialised team that includes lift planners, supervisors and riggers to execute in a safe and efficient way.
“We have Liam Gazey, our asset manager whose role is to make sure all our plant and equipment is compliant and maintained at all times,” said Drew.
We have tower crane riggers, technicians and mechanics. Across the board, we have a great team with a very positive attitude and strong harmonised culture focused on successfully delivering projects for our customers. As with any business, without good people, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”