Stunning Hidromek excavator for Porteous Groundworks

It looks epic.... Ben Porteous MD of Porteous Groundworks Ltd on the arrival of his new HİDROMEK HMK 140LC excavator, which has a black and orange custom paint job.

Jason McCullough of MPS South West supplied the machine, which was a major head turner at the Royal Cornwall Show.

Peter Haddock caught up with Ben on site just as the machine arrived to learn how he is continuing to grow his business.

They talked about new equipment and how he has combined the use of 3D machine control from Leica Geosystems part of Hexagon through dealer One Point Survey Equipment across his fleet.

More recently, Ben has combined machine control with HOLP GmbH Rototop 360-degree rotating attachments on his excavators, which range from 7 tonnes upwards.

Ben and his team also use Leica Geosystems surveying equipment.

Ben: "Our engineers can now create and quickly adjust 3D earthworks models, sending them through to the machines using the GPS network.

Ben also hinted at future investments in safety solutions.

He added: "Some of our team recently had advanced training at the Leica Geosystems school in Shropshire. They used the 3D collision avoidance solution from Xwatch Safety Solutions part of Hexagon, which is now integrated into the MC1 tablet.

"I see a huge advantage of using this technology to create avoidance zones where underground or overhead services are on site. It's a no-brainer.

"Moving forward, this is definitely something we will be using, particularly for housebuilding and infrastructure projects."

The machine is certainly very impressive. And for operator Mark Canning, who also spoke to Peter for a video coming soon, it's a fantastic new office as he moves from being a ground worker to an operator.