Lifting solution specialists, The GGR Group, has extended its product range and added new brand GGR Cladding to its existing portfolio.

The GGR Group has taken over distribution of the Wirth GmbH brand, OKTOPUS® which consists of cladding lifters, including forklift mounted lifters and a range of suction frames.

The addition of the new products and launch of GGR Cladding will offer customers even more choice for purchase and hire and increased capability for installing large-format roofing, wall, ceiling and façade panels made of sandwich, profiled sheeting and glass. The brand new website GGR Cladding website will host the new range.

The OKTOPUS® cladding lifters available from GGR Cladding can handle panels of up to 22 metres in length and up to 600kgs in weight. 180° tilt movement also allows overhead cladding to be installed and a vast range of suction frames are available for various cladding construction purposes. GGR Cladding will encompass GGR’s existing cladding machine, the Clad King dual circuit cladding lifter.

The OKTOPUS® range offers an entirely new generation of vacuum lifting equipment which can be used as a crane and forklift attachment as well as for installing vertical and horizontal wall panels thanks to its revolving suction bridge. This means that even extremely heavy sandwich panels can be easily lifted from their transport position to their installation position. The electric-hydraulic pivoting function also allows panels to be rotated 180°, offering a solution to the problem of installing alternately facing panels straight from transportation.

Within GGR’s range of glass vacuum lifters, GGR will now offer the industry’s slimmest rotatable machine. With a height of only 140mm, the OKTOPUS® machine is able to install and rotate by 360° even in an area with only 30cm wide clearance between the scaffold and the façade. The new vacuum glass lifters being added to GGR Glass’s range have capacities from 150 kg to 3000kgs and are a selection of both “in-line” and “cluster style” machines.

All of the OKTOPUS® vacuum lifters are battery powered and therefore completely self-sufficient. Bespoke designs which operate using mains or emergency power can also be developed upon request.

The OKTOPUS® equipment also includes a sophisticated safety system, which constantly monitors the condition of the vacuum circuit and batteries. Visual and audio warning signals give an early indication of deviations from normal conditions. A large reserve vacuum system maintains load bearing capacities even in the event of a loss of power, so that there is enough time to safely deposit the load once an alarm goes off.

Graeme Riley, Chief Executive Officer of GGR commented: “GGR has worked hard to achieve its position as number one in the glass lifting industry and we feel it’s a natural progression to expand into the cladding market. We already have some experience in this market, with our Clad King machine, and this is definitely something we can build on.

It was a pleasure and a surprise to be approached by Holger Schadwinkel, from Wirth as the OKTOPUS® equipment offers the versatility and meets the standards our customers have come to expect from GGR. It was a natural partnership. The launch of GGR Cladding will also see the introduction of a dedicated sales team, to focus on our new cladding projects.”

Holger Schadwinkel, Managing Director at OKTOPUS®, also commented: “Due to GGR’s outstanding success and experience as the UK’s market leaders in vacuum lifting and specialist solutions, GGR was the obvious choice to represent OKTOPUS® in the UK. Wirth has wanted to collaborate with GGR for some time and feel that now is the right time to bring the two companies together. The OKTOPUS® range perfectly complements GGR’s range of already great products and we’re extremely pleased to combine our products with theirs.”

GGR Cladding is now the seventh brand to be added to the GGR Group portfolio which already includes GGR Glass, UNIC Cranes Europe, GGR Galizia, GGR AirLift, GGR Rail and GGR Gulf. The GGR Group is Europe’s leading supplier of vacuum handling equipment, restricted access lifting machinery and mini cranes, along with a variety of complementary products and services.