Hillhead 2014 hailed great success by organisers

Organisers of 427 Hillhead 2014 have hailed the event a great success – with 17,559 visitors attending the three-day show at 7235 Lafarge Tarmac’s Hillhead Quarry, near Buxton, Derbyshire, northern England.

Held 24–26 June 2014 the event underlined its status as the world’s biggest working quarry-based exhibition for the mineral products, construction and recycling industries.

Around 450 of the world’s leading equipment manufacturers, contractors and suppliers took part in the biennial trade extravaganza, to launch new and promote their latest plant, equipment, materials and services. And with economic recovery gathering momentum and confidence returning to the market, particularly in the UK, a growing sense of optimism was noticeable among exhibitors and visitors alike.

Regular attendees will also have noticed the new layout inside the expanded Registration Pavilion with more indoor stands than before. And with a further extension to the showground providing more space for outdoor plots and a brand new working demonstration area at the top of the ramp, near the entrance, Hillhead 2014 was the biggest show ever mounted at the quarry site.

Andrew Yeo, 447 Powerscreen territory manager – Asia, said, “Hillhead 2014 has been one of our busiest ever shows – the visitor response to our mobile range has been tremendous with a lot of enquiries about the new products. A number of orders for new machines were taken at the show and we expect to close a few more deals in the coming months, so all in all this has been a very good show for Powerscreen.”

In a similar vein, Kevin Prince, general manager for 385 Atlas Copco Construction and Mining, said, “Hillhead has been a great show for us as it suits Atlas Copco’s product offering for the construction and mining industries. We’ve done some key deals at the show, including two flagship SD2500WS pavers, several asphalt rollers and a large order for compressors of various sizes. We also displayed the new QLT H50 lighting tower and PAS 6 diesel-driven pump, which were both well received.”

Neil Williams, country manager, machine control, for 437 Leica Geosystems, said, “Hillhead has been an excellent show for the business, allowing us to target potential customers from a number of sectors. We’ve been overwhelmed by the interest in our products and services, having seen a lot of good-quality people from the UK and overseas. We’ve also received several orders for our surveying/mapping equipment at the show.”

Likewise, Northern Ireland-based Bruce Engineering, who used the show to launch their new WashPod, said they had had their most successful Hillhead ever. Marketing and dealer support manager Caroline Slane said, “We had a lot of interest in the WashPod and received a number of good leads and enquiries from high-quality visitors.”

439 Liebherr GB were equally positive about the benefits of exhibiting at this year’s event as Lee Palmer, divisional manager earthmoving, said, “We couldn’t have asked for a better show. It’s been absolutely fantastic with lots of enquiries. Several machines were sold off the stand during the event and there’ll be more sales to come after the show as we have good leads to follow up.”

Hillhead is widely regarded as an important platform for companies to get their products and services into worldwide markets, thanks to the scale and diversity of visitors to the show. For first-time exhibitors ARJA Group, Spanish manufacturers of impact crushers for hard and abrasive stone, the show offered an ideal opportunity to break into the UK and worldwide markets, as Pan Marco, international business development manager, explained, “We recently changed our business model to be more internationally driven and this strategy means we are creating further opportunities and reaching new markets abroad. As a first-time exhibitor, we were very pleased to be at Hillhead because we want to make inroads into the British and overseas markets. The show itself was a great success for us with lots of footfall on the stand and the feedback on all our products has been extremely positive.’

Summing up this year’s show, event director Jack Berridge said Hillhead 2014 had been a great success, as all the stand space on the enlarged site layout had been sold out, visitor attendance was up by around 700 on the last show, and even the Buxton weather had obliged by being dry and fine on the show days without being too hot. “It doesn’t get much better than that!” he concluded.  

Dates for Hillhead 2016 will be announced shortly.