08.01.2025

25 years for Mantis

Irish tower crane rental and sales company Mantis Cranes has celebrated 25 years in business.

To mark the occasion, the company hosted an event for the Mantis staff and suppliers.

Family run Mantis Cranes (originally known as Masol Ireland) was established in 1999 by Seamus McMenamin in Killygordon, Donegal.

The company - part of McMenamin Engineering - claims to have introduced the hydraulic self erecting tower crane concept to Ireland. McMenamin says he was looking for a new product that would complement his company’s engineering expertise and production capabilities. While in France, he noticed the widespread use of small self-erectors on building sites of all sizes, which led him to discovering Ma-Sol Gru, an Italian manufacturer looking for representation in Ireland. A deal was agreed and Masol Ireland set up to offer the Italian company's self-erecting cranes on the Irish market.

The introduction of what was a new concept was initially challenging but to overcome the resistance to try the new cranes, McMenamin offered builders a month’s free trial, which typically led to builders keeping the crane for the duration of their projects.

Masol Ireland initially imported complete models from Italy, but then began manufacturing some of the structural components in Donegal, reaching a point where around 70 precent of the crane’s parts were being produced locally.

The company now operates a rental fleet of around 160 tower cranes and hoists throughout Ireland and in the UK, where Mantis operates from its base in Northampton, with a branch in Durham, Northeast England, along with the original location in Donegal, Ireland, supported by a team of 70 employees.