PowerClad, the hydraulically-operated cladding panel placement system introduced less than a year ago by Nationwide Access, the country's leading powered access rental company, is claimed to be the only system that is suitable for the dozen most popular cladding panel systems currently on the market.

With a safe working load of 250kg, PowerClad offers two and a half times the load bearing capacity of its nearest rival, which is suitable for just three of the top 12 manufacturers' systems, and then only for panels weighing up to 100kg. Systems where PowerClad is proving particularly popular include the Kingspan Microrib and the Wards Microrib, and panels manufactured by Euroclad, Corus, Hunter Douglas and many others.

Cladding contractors are reporting that PowerClad is consistently delivering an average 38 percent increase in panel area installed each day, and a 50 percent reduction in labour costs. This is equating to a 164 percent increase in gross profit. Indeed, such has been the success of PowerClad that that it is one of the three shortlisted entries for the coveted R and D Plant and Equipment category of the Quality in Construction awards that are to be announced in March.

PowerClad was originally designed to handle and position horizontal cladding panels. However, Nationwide has announced that a new model will be introduced within the next few weeks that is designed to accommodate the more popular vertical cladding panels. According to PowerClad Product Manager, Peter Compton, the new vertical PowerClad will easily handle the ten-metre long panels that are frequently specified.

Nationwide is part of the publicly-quoted Lavendon Group plc and is headquartered in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Its hire fleet is twice the size of its nearest UK competitor and all of the company's depots comply with Nationwide's ISO 9002 accreditation. The Group is also the market leader in the European powered access market, trading under the name Zooom in Germany, France, Spain and Austria.

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January 2003 Nat3.077a