BONNYBRIDGE-based GBSS Civils and Plant Hire was established in 2009, although had been trading as GB Site Services since 1999 as a groundworks and civil engineering contractor.
The company to this day remains a family business, with owner and MD George Burns at the helm, alongside 85 employees. GBSS specialise as a subcontractor on civil engineering projects covering most of Scotland, with clients including blue chip contractors such as Morrison Construction, Malcolm Group, Graham Construction and Laing O’Rourke.
GBSS has 54 hydraulic hitches in its fleet fitted to a wide range of excavators including Hitachi, Komatsu, Case and JCB. Of the 54 hitches, the vast majority are Tefra quick couplers which are designed and manufactured by Hill Engineering.
GBSS’s most recent purchase is a new JCB JS160W wheeled excavator fitted with a new Tefra Tilt, supplied by Scot JCB. This is the first Tefra Tilt for GBSS and was bought specifically for its versatility on groundworks projects. The machine is currently working south of Inverness on a Scottish Power project – a wind turbine substation for the power network.
Tom Taylor, plant manager at GBSS, was instrumental in choosing the Tefra Tilt along with George Burns. Tom said, “We both rate Hill’s Tefra quick hitch quite highly – it’s a very good hitch. We had never gone down the road of a tilt hitch – on the rubber ducks we normally always use a hitch and bucket. After a joint discussion, we thought we would give the tilt a try and see how it performs as it was quite new to us. Scot JCB suggested we tried the tilt so we went from there. The tilt is very good – we have had no issues at all and it’s manufactured to a very high standard. It’s done over 500 hours on this machine (JCB JS160W wheeled excavator) and we have never even had to look at it.”
George Burns added, “We decided on the Hill Tefra Tilt as with competitors hitches there are too many parts and on the hydraulic tilting buckets there are too many rams which fail, whereas the Tefra Tilt has an actuating motor arrangement and no wearing parts – so practically maintenance free. It also has a heavier motor on it.”
Robert Buchanan has been a machine operator with GBSS for the last year and has been using the JCB JS160W wheeled excavator machine fitted with the Tefra Tilt system for two months. He said, “This was the first time I had used the tilt – previously I had only used a traditional hitch and bucket. I really am impressed with the Tefra Tilt – it’s a cracking bit of gear. I can work with better angles with this attachment and it’s a real time-saver and you can get the job done far more quickly.
“It’s able to pick up standard buckets with ease and is very reliable. I would definitely recommend the Tefra Tilt to other operators.”
Scot JCB’s commercial manager Ian Forrest said, “In the time we have worked with GBSS we have supplied the company with a number of Hill Engineering Tefra hitches. The company recently purchased a new JCB JS160W wheeled excavator and because of the working application of the machine we supplied GBSS with its first Tefra Tilt. Reports from the company suggest that they are very happy with the new tilt.”
Ross Fairweather, Scotland area sales manager for Hill added, “It’s great to see our product so well received by GBSS. It is a huge benefit to any operator and greatly improves efficiency on site. We are dedicated to ensuring our customers get the best quality products and after sales service.”
Hill said the tilt system allows operators “greater flexibility” in the way they use their machines and turns every attachment into one that can be used at up to 90 degrees each side.
