PIER (UK) operate the largest vacuum excavation hire fleet in the UK and Europe and today, we are proud to announce that our company is turning 20 years old.
Sean Quinn, Managing Director, originally set up PIER (UK) as a civil engineering and drainage business in 2001. After recognising the safety benefits that vacuum excavation held over the more traditional methods, PIER (UK) ceased to provide civil engineering and drainage services in 2012 and focused solely on vacuum excavation.
There have been so many incredible milestones throughout the past two decades, and we wanted to share our top 20 with you:
 | PIER (UK) was established as a company in August 2001, located in Cricket Street in Wigan to provide civil engineering and drainage services. |  | Over several years we took on a number of large-scale drainage projects including new build retail parks, road widening schemes, airport extensions and many more. |
 | In 2008, we hired our very first vacuum excavator to safely excavate the ground on a large road widening infrastructure project. |  | In December 2008 after being extremely impressed with the capabilities of the vacuum excavation system, we received delivery of our first vacuum excavator. |
 | Seeing how popular the vacuum excavator was with our customers, in May 2010, we purchased more excavators to add to our fleet. |  | In 2012, Sean Quinn made the decision to cease all drainage and civil works and focus solely on providing vacuum excavation hire. |
 | In 2013, as our Vac-Ex fleet continued to grow, our team soon outgrew Cricket Street, so we packed our bags and moved 9 miles to a new home in Junction Lane, Newton-le-Willows. |  | In 2015, we reached a fantastic milestone, becoming the largest vacuum excavation hire provider throughout the United Kingdom. But it didn’t stop there… |
 | In February 2016, we purchased more vacuum excavators which took us to the top spot as the largest vacuum excavation hire provider in Europe. |  | December 2016 witnessed the delivery of the 30th vacuum excavator and our team celebrated 8 successful years in the vacuum excavation industry. |
Our Sankey Valley site in the 1930s
 | Across 2016 and 2017, PIER (UK) decided that they wanted to give something back. We created a special pink vacuum excavator that raised almost £10,000 for several UK cancer charities. |  | We retained our position with Europe’s largest vacuum excavation hire fleet in 2017 taking delivery of 4 more vacuum excavators. |
 | In March 2018, we won “Truck of the Show” at the Dungannon Truck Run in Northern Ireland. |  | A month later, we introduced the UK’s very first Tracked Vac; an off-road vacuum excavator that has been specially designed to travel over the roughest of terrain to reach previously inaccessible sites. |
 | During the month of August 2018, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of our very first vacuum excavator by taking delivery of our 42nd. |  | In 2019, we moved our growing team in to a new purpose-built office. |
 | Despite the ongoing pandemic during 2020, we announced a significant expansion to our fleet that took us over 50 Vacuum Excavators. |  | In May 2020, we achieved a 100% score in both the Health & Safety and Environmental in our Achilles Audit. |
 | In 2020, in the spookiest month of the year, we took delivery of a very special gold vacuum excavator that marked the 1,000th excavator that manufacturer, MTS, had produced. |  | PIER (UK) celebrates 20 years of successful business on the 31st of August 2021 by designing a unique black vacuum excavator. |
Sean Quinn explained: “As a company, we have gone from strength-to-strength over the past two decades, and we are now the UK market leader in vacuum excavation with a hire fleet that continues to grow year-on-year.”
Over the last 20 years, the company has seen many highlights including becoming the UK’s largest provider in 2015 and Europe’s in 2016, raising nearly £10,000 for UK cancer charities in 2016/17 and developing the first ever Tracked Vac; an off-road vacuum excavator that has been specially designed to travel over the roughest of terrain to reach previously inaccessible sites.
Sean continued: “The Tracked Vac was a particularly proud achievement. We wanted to continue to lead the way in vacuum excavation and as its use continued to grow; we predicted the problem was going to arise with gaining access to certain areas with the standard wheeled system. The Tracked Vac means our customers don’t have to install ground protection mats or temporary haul roads to access the site.”
To mark the occasion, Pier (UK) commissioned a unique black truck with 20th Anniversary livery.
The future looks bright for the company as Sean explained: “We will continue to invest in our fleet, our systems, and our people to remain the number one supplier of vacuum excavation in the UK. We have come through a very challenging period for everyone, but the company remains strong and despite issues elsewhere in our target industries, August has been our busiest month this year and our order book continues to grow.”
Follow PIER (UK) on LinkedIn to take part in the 20th Anniversary quiz.
Read more about the history of vacuum excavation here.
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