Ainscough Crane Hire

What Ainscough Crane Hire does

Ainscough Crane Hire Ltd is a privately held UK lifting services company founded in 1976 in Wigan, now operating from 30 depot locations nationwide with a workforce of approximately 1,000 employees. The company runs the UK's largest crane fleet — 400+ units ranging from 40-tonne to 800-tonne capacity, including Liebherr all-terrain and crawler cranes, Spierings mobile tower cranes, and Terex equipment — and became the world's first national crane hire operator to achieve carbon-neutral status in April 2022 through HVO fuel adoption.

Revenue is generated through four streams: usage-based crane rental (hourly/daily/weekly rates on the 400+ fleet), professional services contract lifts (planning, equipment, and operation as a bundled package), specialist heavy haulage and transport for abnormal loads, and training services delivered from the Lancaster academy. All pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Distribution is conducted through a national field sales force operating from 30 depots, a national accounts team, and an online quote portal, with go-to-market focused on enterprise infrastructure, construction, power generation, petrochemical, water, and wind energy clients.

The customer base is dominated by named enterprise accounts including EDF (Hinkley Point C, Heysham), Network Rail, HS2 (EKFB Consortium), Sellafield, United Utilities, Laing O'Rourke, Balfour Beatty, Kier, Vestas, Essar Oil, Heineken, and Willmott Dixon. The company holds ISO 9001/14001/18001 QHSE certification, RISQS rail qualification, RoSPA Silver Awards (four consecutive years 2020-2023), Cyber Essentials, and FORS Silver, and was recognized as a Sunday Times Best Place to Work in 2024 and 2025.

Name

Ainscough Crane Hire

Legal name

Ainscough Crane Hire Ltd

Website

https://ainscough.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Ainscough Crane Hire is the UK's largest crane hire operator, running a 400+ crane fleet from 30 national depots and serving enterprise infrastructure, construction, power generation, and wind energy clients with crane rental, contract lifts, and heavy haulage services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Crane Hire and Heavy Lifting Services

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Equipment Rental & Leasing (7350), Construction, Mining & Materials Handling Machinery & Equip (3530), Construction Machinery & Equip (3531)

akta.pro primary industry

Cranes & Heavy Lifting Equipment Rental/Leasing (TLABAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Mobile & Crawler Cranes (IMAHAJAA), Tower Cranes (IMAHAJAB), Truck-Mounted & Loader Cranes (IMAHAJAF), Cranes, Hoists & Overhead Material Handling (Industrial) (IMAHABAE)

Keywords

• Crane hire services
• Contract lift solutions
• Heavy haulage logistics
• Lifting operations training
• Specialist transport services

Headquarters

HQ city

Leyland

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Crane Rental & Equipment Hire: Short-term and long-term rental of crane fleet including all-terrain, crawler, and mobile tower cranes from 40t to 800t capacity. Revenue generated through hourly/daily/weekly rental rates.
2. Contract Lift Services: Comprehensive contract lift services including lift planning, crane operation, and project management. Full-service solution for complex lifting operations including specialized heavy lifts and emergency response.
3. Heavy Haulage & Transport: Specialist transport services for oversized loads including turbine components, heavy equipment, and abnormal indivisible loads. Fleet includes heavy haulage Scania trucks.
4. Training Services: Lifting operations training including CPCS qualifications, NVQs, and specialized safety courses. Training delivered at Lancaster training centre and on-site.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Ainscough Crane Hire is the UK's largest crane hire company, operating a fleet of more than 400 cranes across a national network of 30 depots. The company provides crane rental, full contract lift services, heavy haulage and specialist transport, plus lifting operations training. It serves construction, infrastructure, power generation, petrochemical and renewable energy projects across the UK.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Ainscough Wind Energy Services: Specialist division providing lifting services for wind energy projects including turbine construction, major component changes, decommissioning, and quayside discharging.

Products and services

• Crane Hire and Equipment Rental Hire of mobile cranes (all-terrain, crawler, telescopic, tower and city class) ranging from 8 tonnes to 1,600 tonnes on an operated or self-hire basis for construction and infrastructure clients.
• Contract Lift Services Fully managed lift solution covering method statements, 3D CAD lift planning, supervisory and CPCS-trained operator delivery and client handover, aimed at clients without in-house lifting capability.
• Complex Contract Lifts (Ainscough Heavy Lifts Division) Large-capacity lifting service (up to 750 tonnes) for major construction and industrial projects using heavy-duty mobile and crawler cranes with Variobase outrigger technology.
• Specialist Transport (Ainscough Heavy Haulage Division) Abnormal load haulage and specialist transport for heavy and oversize plant, machinery and infrastructure components, including HVO-fuelled vehicles.
• Emergency Response Services Rapid mobilisation of cranes and operators for storm, accident and infrastructure failure response across the UK, available on call-out contracts.
• Turnkey and Shutdown Management End-to-end project management of planned industrial shutdowns, including lifting, transport and on-site coordination, for petrochemical and process-industry clients.
• Special Projects Consultancy Engineering and lifting consultancy for complex, non-routine lifts, providing feasibility studies, method statements and on-site supervision.
• Wind Energy Lifting Services Specialist lifting and transport for onshore and offshore wind farm construction and maintenance, serving developers and OEMs such as Vestas and EDF.
• Lifting Operations Training (Ainscough Training Services) CPCS-aligned crane operator and lifting operations training programmes, including apprenticeships, delivered at the company's dedicated training facility for construction and industrial employers.
• City Class Compact Crane Hire Compact, low-emission city-class cranes (with Tier 4F HVO capability) designed for restricted urban sites such as inner-city construction and infrastructure projects.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,000 lifts completed at Hinkley Point C nuclear project over 3+ years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AggrekominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration for efficient chiller lift service combining Ainscough's crane expertise with Aggreko's temporary power and cooling solutions for industrial applications.
• Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerActive member of CPA. Operates under CPA Standard Terms for Contract Lift Services and CPA Model Conditions for Plant Hiring, demonstrating industry leadership and standards compliance.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Mammoet: Global heavy lifting and transport specialist operating large crawler, mobile, and tower cranes for energy, infrastructure, and petrochemical projects — directly comparable services, customer base, and contract-lift model to Ainscough, but at larger international scale.
• Sarens: World-leading heavy lift and engineered transport contractor with a large crawler and mobile crane fleet serving wind, nuclear, oil & gas, and infrastructure clients — overlaps directly with Ainscough's core contract-lift offering.
• Select Plant Hire: UK-based crane and plant hire company operating a significant mobile and crawler crane fleet for construction and infrastructure projects; competes head-to-head with Ainscough in the same UK enterprise accounts and depot-network model.
• King Lifting: UK specialist crane hire company focused on contract lifts, mobile and crawler cranes across construction, infrastructure, and industrial sectors — comparable customer mix, depot coverage, and contract-lift service offering to Ainscough.
• Hewden Stuart Crane Hire: UK crane and powered access hire specialist operating a multi-depot network serving construction, infrastructure, and industrial clients; competes in the same UK contract-lift market with overlapping fleet categories.

Broad incumbents

• GAP Group: Major UK equipment hire company with a broad plant, powered access, and crane hire offering; competes with Ainscough on construction and infrastructure accounts but spans many product categories beyond crane services.
• Ashtead Group (Sunbelt Rentals): Largest UK/US equipment rental operator with significant UK plant and crane hire exposure through A-Plant and Sunbelt Rentals; overlaps with Ainscough in heavy-lift and infrastructure but as part of a much broader rental portfolio.
• Speedy Hire: UK-listed equipment hire provider with cranes, powered access, and tools across construction and infrastructure; adjacent competitor with partial overlap on crane hire rather than a pure-play peer.

Others

• Liebherr: OEM manufacturer of the mobile, crawler, and tower cranes that make up the majority of Ainscough's 400-unit fleet; a key supplier and technology partner rather than a competitor, with shared interest in low-emission crane technology.

Emerging players

• Wolffkran: European tower crane specialist with rental and sales operations serving construction and infrastructure; partial overlap with Ainscough's mobile tower crane (Liebherr MK) activities but primarily a manufacturer/renter in the tower segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ainscough_
• Facebookfacebook.com/Ainscough-Crane-Hire-James-Jack-Ainscough-Wind-Energy-Services-225142197677755
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/156840
• Instagraminstagram.com/ainscoughcranehire

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ainscough Crane Hire