08.08.2014

City Lift approaches 50

Danish powered access and lifting specialist City Lift will celebrate 50 years in business on September 5th .

The company was founded by Henrik Ravn -who incidentally also celebrates his 80th birthday on the 5th. The company, originally trading under the Ravn name, opened for business September 1964 as a tree trimming specialist. As business grew and the new company won an increasing amount of business in challenging areas within the city it started to use truck mounted aerial lifts, and became one of the first companies to appreciate the potential of powered access.
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One of the first City Lift platforms trading then under the Ravn name

Based in the Taastrup suburb of Copenhagen, the company soon began buying its own lifts and then started to rent them out in between jobs. The lift business gradually became a more important part of the business, although it continued to work on tree trimming and removal.
In 2003 City Lift began buying Niftylift work platforms and was appointed as the Danish dealer. Joint owner René C. Olsen said: “The relationship with Nifty began because the UK based manufacturer built machines that we found were well suited for tree work, products such as the SD Self-Drive machines and trailer lifts as well as its other lightweight machines.“
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City Lift's headquarters in Taastrup

“We also liked Niftylift because its machines were especially well suited for our type of business, with their small and light equipment being perfect for our job sites in the main Copenhagen area. Niftylift is also a family business like ours and they really care about our business”.

Olsen joined the company 25 years ago as a service engineer and now owns half the business, he is also the managing director, responsible for the day to day running of the business, while Ravn continues to hold the other half of the equity. The two will host a celebration at the company’s premises on the September 5th for customers and suppliers.
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City lift owners René Olsen (L) and Henrik Ravn

City Lift currently has a rental fleet of around 200 units, mostly aerial lifts but also including a few cranes. It has limits the fleet size to this level as well as restricting operations to its immediate area, in order not to compete with or ‘tread on the toes of’ its rental company customers. As well as selling Niftylift machines, City Lift also has a thriving replacement parts and service business covering most brands of Aerial lift.