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Dennis Eagle

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Dennis Eagle logo

Dennis Eagle Limited is a UK-based refuse truck manufacturer owned by Terberg Environmental.

Overview

2011 Elite 2 refuse truck
Phoenix dustcart

Before operations were merged with Terberg Environmental, Dennis Eagle employed a workforce of over 600 across its two manufacturing sites and service network, which included nine depots as well as mobile engineers based throughout the UK. Body and chassis assembly took place at the Warwick headquarters, with cabs built at the additional manufacturing facility in Blackpool. Producing over 1,000 refuse collection vehicles each year, the company also had an international network of distributors.[citation needed]

History

Dennis Brothers had made specialised vehicles for municipal authorities from the early 1920s though they were primarily builders of chassis for buses, fire engines and haulage lorries.

Eagle Engineering Company, agricultural and general engineers of Warwick, was incorporated in 1907. It made oil and petrol internal combustion stationary engines and some small agricultural equipment and provided municipalities with refuse vehicles and road sweepers and tower lorries at relatively inexpensive prices sometimes built on Dennis chassis. Soon after the start of the Great Depression Eagle turned from engines to building road trailers and semi-trailers for articulated vehicles. They also added an electrical and wireless department and produced Chakophone wireless sets until 1936. Ownership changed a number of times during the 1960s.[1]

Dennis Eagle's history goes back to the autumn of 1971 when Hestair Group bought Yorkshire Vehicles Limited in Leeds and Eagle Engineering Co in Warwick.[2] Six months later Hestair bought Dennis Motor Holdings[3] and thereafter managed the businesses as the Vehicle Division of Hestair Engineering. Municipal bodies were made in Warwick by Hestair Eagle (incorporating Yorkshire Vehicles), municipal chassis were made by Dennis in Guildford, cabs were made in Blackpool.

Hestair set up a special Environmental Vehicles Division for its waste management activities.[4] In 1985 Hestair moved municipal chassis manufacture from the Dennis plant at Guildford to a new 125,000 square foot plant on the Heathcote Industrial Estate at Warwick. They were joined there by Hestair Eagle's municipal bodies operations which moved across Warwick from Saltisford. The new Dennis Eagle plant was the largest refuse vehicle manufacturing site in Europe.[5][6][7] In 1991 Shelvoke & Drewry's design rights were bought from the receiver.

Environmental Vehicles, Dennis Eagle, now represented around one-third of Hestair's Vehicle Division. Following more changes of parent company (Hestair to Trinity to Dennis Group to Mayflower) Dennis Eagle was sold in July 1999 to NatWest Equity Partners.[8] In January 2004, Dennis Eagle was purchased by ABN Amro.[9]

In 2007, Dennis Eagle was purchased by Ros Roca.[10] Ros Roca and Terberg Environmental merged in 2016, with Terberg holding the controlling interest. The various companies within the new group retained their trading names. [11][12]

Dennis Eagle products

Year Name Cab Chassis Body Binlift Significance
1979 Phoenix 1 No No Yes No
1992 Elite 1 No Yes No No Designed for UK's first low entry cab
2001 Phoenix 2 No No Yes No
2003 8x4 Elite 2[13] No Yes No No
???? Olympus[14] No No Yes No
???? Olympus Twin Pack[14] No No Yes No
???? Olympus Duo[14] No No Yes No
???? Olympus Mini[14] No No Yes No
???? Beta 1[15] No No No Yes
???? Beta 2[15] No No No Yes
2021 eCollect[16] No Yes No No Worlds first OEM Electric RCV
2021 Elite+[17] Yes Yes No No

References

  1. ^ Woods, Barrie (1998), Municipal Refuse Collection Vehicles, Trans Pennine Publishing, ISBN 9780952107040
  2. ^ Hestair acquires Eagle Engineering The Times 19 October 1971 page 21
  3. ^ Hestair offers £3.4m for Dennis Motors The Times 28 March 1972 page 19
  4. ^ Torbay Conference Commercial Motor 8 June 1973 page 57
  5. ^ 450 Jobs to Go The Times 16 March 1985 page 2
  6. ^ Dennis moves Commercial Motor 23 March 1985 page 6
  7. ^ Restructured team installed at Hestair Commercial Motor 26 October 1985 page 13
  8. ^ Natwest subsidiary buys Dennis Eagle Commercial Motor 5 August 1999
  9. ^ Eagle strike Commercial Motor 15 January 2004
  10. ^ Harrington, Ben (8 December 2006). "Spanish conglomerate ready to cart off Dennis Eagle". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  11. ^ Boxall, Hannah (26 February 2016). "Dennis Eagle owner Ros Roca announces merger with Terberg Environmental". Resource. Resource Media. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  12. ^ Terberg Ros Roca Group to be based in Warwick SMMT Newsletter 9 March 2016
  13. ^ "Returning to the CIWM" (PDF). Dennis Eagle. 2 May 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d "Olympus Bodies RCVs". www.dennis-eagle.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Dennis Eagle Beta Bin lift". www.dennis-eagle.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Full Electric RCV: eCollect". www.dennis-eagle.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  17. ^ "Elite+ Chassis". www.dennis-eagle.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2022.

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