Falcon Tower Cranes, one of the UK’s largest tower crane specialists, operating high-throughput paint and refurbishment workflows.
The Challenge
Falcon’s workload surged. Conventional booths without heating became the bottleneck. Jobs were getting bigger, cure cycles were slow, and lead times were stretching, forcing the team to pass on larger opportunities.
Kevin Bird, Northern General Manager at Falcon Tower Cranes said, “With our original conventional booths, there was no heating. It was just a slow, ongoing process that had to be done. Our lead times were massive, items that we’re painting, jobs that we’re taking on are getting bigger and bigger, and we needed a bigger facility.”
Falcon needed a scalable, heated facility that could handle larger components, enable spray and bake in one location, and reduce total turnaround time. They also wanted the flexibility to relocate the new facility in future.
Why Falcon Chose SurfacePrep
Falcon already trusted the blast booth previously supplied by Hodge Clemco, now part of SurfacePrep UK. What tipped the decision was SurfacePrep’s ability to engineer a containerised, external Spray & Bake booth that delivers performance now, and can also be relocated in the future. Providing even greater flexibility to the solution.
Kevin continued, “When we shopped around, there was only SurfacePrep UK that was offering an external containerised unit that we can pick up and move to another location at a later day if we ever need to.”
Behind that promise sits a full, proof-led system:
- End-to-end finishing capability from blast rooms and cabinets, through spray booths, powder plants, drying and curing ovens. One partner, one accountable system.
- UK manufacturing, stock and service depth across abrasives, spares and engineered solutions, with in-house lab testing and large UK warehousing for continuity of supply.
- Operator safety and compliance support including PPE, breathing air testing to EN12021, LEV examinations to HSG258/P601, pressure testing and WSE.
- Process validation and training so the booth, media and method are proven before go-live, then maintained for uptime.
Solution
SurfacePrep designed, manufactured and installed a containerised Spray & Bake booth, configured to:
- Accommodate larger crane components and assemblies
- Integrate heated cure to collapse total cycle time
- Operate outdoors with full weathering and relocatable design
- Tie into Falcon’s existing SurfacePrep blasting workflow for a streamlined paint chain
Liam Davis, from SurfacePrep UK said, “We’re extremely proud to have worked with our longstanding customer, Falcon Tower Crane Services, to design, manufacture and supply our largest containerised spray & bake booth to date from our manufacturing facility in Sheffield.”
Immediate Results
The operational impact was extremely fast.
With faster cycles and a controlled cure, Falcon unlocked capacity, protected delivery promises and took on bigger jobs with confidence. Equally important, Falcon simplified procurement and support:
“It’s massively reduced our completion times and the efficiency that we can get things in and out of the door.”
“Under the SurfacePrep umbrella, we can buy all of the painting equipment and the facilities we need from one partner.”
“I would recommend SurfacePrep UK for products of the same either shot blasting or painting facilities, they have massively helped us. There’s a one-on-one service, they come out, they see you, they tailor what you need to your requirements.”
What this proves to customers
- One accountable partner reduces risk.
SurfacePrep designs and builds the whole environment: blast rooms, booths, dust extraction, media recycling, ovens and paint spray systems, so root causes are solved system-wide rather than piecemeal. - Uptime is engineered, not hoped for.
TotalCare servicing, UK spares, and compliance testing keep plants safe, legal and productive. LEV examinations, breathing air tests to EN12021, pressure vessel testing and WSE keep auditors happy and operators protected. - Proof beats guesswork.
Sample processing and process validation ensure the right media, pressure and method before capital is committed. That de-risks quality and shortens time to steady-state throughput. - Safety and productivity go together.
Approved blast helmets and PPE, climate control and communications keep operators efficient and protected for long shifts in demanding environments. - Supply continuity matters.
UK abrasive manufacturing, extensive local stock and recycling options cut lead risk and lower total cost of ownership.
- Containerised booths and rooms for space-constrained or relocatable sites.
- Spray, powder, drying and curing systems for controlled film build and cycle times.
- Portable and wet blast equipment to match application and environment.
- Abrasives, spares and PPE in depth, with UK stock and lab-tested quality.
If you are facing similar delays, capacity limits or compliance risks, we can help you design a finishing system that scales with demand, protects operators and delivers predictable lead times. Book a discovery call, request a site survey, or send us a brief with your component sizes, throughput targets and current bottlenecks. We will come back with a tailored proposal and a proof-led plan to deliver results beyond the surface.
