2020 European Rental Awards: winners announced in online ceremony

The 13th annual European Rental Awards took place on 30 June in a webinar combining the Award ceremony with market updates presented by equipment rental and construction industry experts.

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The awards, co-organised by ERA and International Rental News, were held online for the first time since their inception in 2008 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With more than 80 nominations and 22 shortlisted entries, the following seven winners were announced:

• Vatupassi (Finland) – Small Rental Company of the Year (<€15 million revenues)

• Mollo Nollegio (Italy) – Large Rental Company of the Year (>€15 million revenues)

• Wacker Neuson (Dual View dumpers) – Rental Product of the Year

• Spartan Solutions (PHALANX digital operations platform) – Best Digital Innovation of the Year

• Volvo Construction Equipment (Sweden) and GSV Materieludlejning A/S (Denmark) – Best Sustainable Rental Project of the Year

• Manitou (France) – ERA Technical Committee Award

Following European and global construction market and construction equipment updates from Martin Seban, IHS Markit, and Chris Sleight, Off-Highway Research, ERA President Pierre Boels closed the webinar with a presentation of the response of the rental market to Covid-19. His presentation was based on the results of an ERA survey on the impact of the crisis on different regions in Europe and the emerging trends in the industry.

The survey showed that rental companies in the UK and southern Europe have been hardest hit by the pandemic, with significant reductions in market size and investments. For market size in Q2 2020, compared to Q2 2019, this amounts to -40% for UK rental companies and -20 to -40% for rental companies in southern Europe. The corresponding figures for rental companies in northern Europe and central Europe are -10% and 0 to -10%, respectively. This picture also follows for investments in 2020, with rental companies in the UK (-40 to -70%), southern Europe (-40 to -50%), central Europe (-20 to -50%) and northern Europe (-10%) all foreseeing reductions, albeit to different extents.

The trends in the rental industry emerging from the pandemic include accelerated digitalisation, more homeworking due to health and safety concerns, and increased use of drive-in rental stores, e-learning and rental platforms.

On the future outlook for the rental industry, Mr Boels said:

“The most important question is how much the construction market will recover over the next 12 to 18 months. However, the future of our industry may be much better than we think because rental is an essential part of the green recovery. This sustainable ‘green’ recovery indicates a bright future for the equipment rental industry as renting is often the best option from both an economic and environmental perspective.”