Currently used as a car park, the suitability of the former gas works site for commercial development is currently being evaluated. Cape Site Services was commissioned by Geo2 Remediation to undertake soil sampling which required a rig that could be easily transported using an existing tail wagon. Seeking a versatile machine which would deliver the required power but be small enough for transportation, Cape Site Services approached Skelair for a flexible term solution.

With an extensive hire fleet, which provides access to a wide range of machines with varying sizes and performance, Skelair recommended the EMCI 4.50 - a machine which weighs just 2.78t but delivers maximum rotation speed of 500rpm.

"As we work on such a variety of drilling projects, we often rely on being able to rent the most suitable rig for a specific job," said Simon Fish, contracts director, Cape Site Services. "At Gainsborough, we needed to balance performance with being able to transport the machine to site ourselves.

"The EMCI 4.50 provided by Skelair proved to be a real winner. As such a small machine we were pleasantly surprised by the power and performance it could deliver. Much lighter than previous rigs we had used, it performed as good - if not better - than heavier ones. Based on this experience, we've already put the EMCI 4.50 forward for a future project."

During the three it was on-site, the EMCI 4.50 needed to take undisturbed soil samples as well as undertake conventional coring. A total of six bores were drilled to a depth of 10m, each taking five samples.

"While the strata was found to be too soft on-site for the planned coring, I felt more than confident that we had been equipped to complete this with the EMCI 4.50. This was the first time we had hired a machine from Skelair and the first time we have deployed the EMCI 4.50, but the service received was excellent - most notably matching the right machine to our specification," continued Fish.

Commenting on the hire contract, Steph Keane, sales director at Skelair, said: "Hiring machines is an excellent route for companies working on specialist jobs. It's equally a great way for trialling a machine before making a decision to invest in a purchase. Our experience of such diverse drilling applications enabled us to identify the rig which would best meet Cape Site Service's requirements, and as quite a recent addition to our rental fleet, the EMCI 4.50 is subsequently proving extremely popular."