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Ready to rent Aina Garcia (top right) and Fergus McArdle (bottom right) are both seeing buoyant rental demand for access platforms.

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Going up Brad Abrahams (above) says demand for Terex products is on the up. Access platforms of all types are gaining ground in the local market.

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Are you inside or out? Do you need to go straight up... or straight out? And how high? These are all questions you should be asking if you need access platforms to help people reach high spots for construction or maintenance work.

The range of access platforms available is pretty comprehensive, with many international manufacturers represented in the Middle East market, either directly or through local agents. With other choices to make including whether to go for battery or diesel powered, articulated, scissor or telescopic, the first thing to be sure of is the kind of work the equipment will be doing.

Other considerations are what environment the machines will be working in, the surfaces they'll be working on and what space there will be around the work area. These factors help determine the power source and the type of arms the machines should have. And of course, above all these things, is the question of height.

According to Jean-Marc Chartier, area export sales manager for Manitou, a manufacturer of rough-terrain handling equipment, around 70% of access platform jobs are done between the heights of 16-20 m.

"We have two machines - 16 m and 18.8 m - because this is the main height required for jobs on the European market," said Chartier.

Although European needs are obviously different to those experienced in the Gulf, it is European safety regulations that influence the design, reach and capacity of platforms brought into this market. One of the biggest legislative factors has been a ban in the European Union on using scaffolding for anything above 3 m high. This has given a sales boost to European manufacturers and means that there are an increasing variety of platforms available for very specific jobs above the 3 m-height limit.

These same European companies are finding that there's plenty of demand for their product here in the Middle East.

"We have good opportunity to sell machinery here in the UAE and the market is only going to grow," said Fergus McArdle, director of Easi Uplifts, an equipment rental and re-sale company.

McArdle thinks future growth will depends on two things, safety and legislation, and the price of labour.

"People are more interested in their work force - and erecting all the scaffolding can be a dangerous job in itself," said McArdle. "This is a growing industry and will no doubt grow substantially through the region."

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