Sany · Feature
Stepping Up at Daglingworth Quarry
Heritage Quarry Group puts the UK's first SANY SY750H to work at Daglingworth Quarry, backed by growing fleet confidence, strong dealer support and a five-year / 5,000-hour warranty.
The road into Daglingworth Quarry gives little away at first. Tucked into the Gloucestershire countryside near Cirencester, it is the sort of place where the landscape still does most of the talking. Stone walls, open fields and the soft colours of the Cotswolds surround a working quarry with a long history beneath its surface.
Follow the haul road down into the site, though, and the scene quickly changes. Engines echo around the quarry, dump trucks move steadily through the benches and, set against the pale limestone face, a new 80-tonne SANY SY750H is already hard at work.
Awesome Earthmovers was invited to Daglingworth Quarry to see the machine in action, and there was no need for a staged demonstration. The SY750H was doing exactly what it had been bought to do: digging, loading and helping keep material moving through a live limestone operation.
"This is not a machine bought to look impressive on paper — it is there to earn its keep."
For Heritage Quarry Group, the arrival of the machine marks an important step. The machine is understood to be the first SANY excavator of this size delivered into the UK, making it a milestone for SANY UK as well as a significant fleet investment for the quarry operator.
Daglingworth Quarry is part of Heritage Quarry Group's growing portfolio of natural stone sites. The business supplies British limestone products — including building stone, walling stone, block stone and aggregates — to customers across construction, landscaping, restoration and infrastructure markets. The quarry itself has a long working history, but under Heritage Quarry Group it is very much being treated as a modern production site.
At Daglingworth, the SY750H is loading dump trucks and supporting the steady flow of material around the site. In simple terms, it is one of the machines that can set the rhythm for the whole quarry. When the excavator is working well, trucks spend less time waiting, the plant keeps fed and production runs more smoothly.
The Machine
The machine has been supplied with a 4.2 m³ bulk bucket, giving it the capacity to move a serious amount of stone with every pass. It also runs a 7 m boom and 3 m dipper arm, with a maximum reach of around 12.1 m, a digging depth of approximately 7.5 m, and a bucket breakout force of 410 kN.
Watching the SY750H at work, what stood out was not only its size but how settled it looked in the application. Big machines can look impressive from a distance, but quarry operators judge them differently. What matters is whether the excavator digs well, feels stable, fills the bucket cleanly and keeps going through long working days.
Building Confidence
That makes this delivery particularly interesting. The SY750H is not Heritage Quarry Group's first SANY machine. It follows the purchase of a 40-tonne SY390H and a 50-tonne SY500H within the previous 12 months, meaning the company already had experience of the brand before stepping up to the larger model.
That confidence has continued to grow. Since adding the SY750H, Heritage Quarry Group has gone on to purchase two more SANY excavators: another 50-tonne SY500H and a 30-tonne SY305LC. For any quarry operator, repeat business says more than any brochure ever could.
Julian Veal, Managing Director of Heritage Quarry Group, said the decision followed the strong performance of the company's existing SANY excavators.
"The performance and reliability of the SANY excavators have been exceptional, so when the time came to expand our fleet, the SY750H was the natural next step — and it certainly impressed us." Julian Veal · Managing Director, Heritage Quarry Group
A customer visit to SANY's manufacturing facilities in China also helped strengthen the buying decision, giving the Heritage Quarry Group team a closer look at the scale, engineering and production standards behind the brand. Back in the UK, strong parts and service back-up have helped reinforce that confidence, along with SANY's industry-leading five-year / 5,000-hour warranty.
A Statement of Intent
For SANY UK, the machine is also a clear statement of intent. The brand has become increasingly visible across the UK excavator market in recent years, but an 80-tonne machine working in a quarry is a different level of exposure. This is where machines are bought for production, not decoration, and where support, running costs and uptime are as important as the initial purchase price.
From the ground, the machine looks every bit the heavy production excavator. The large bucket bites into the material, the undercarriage gives it a planted stance and the machine has the reach to work the face while keeping trucks moving safely around it.
There is nothing delicate about the job, but there is still a level of control required. Loading efficiently is not just about brute force. It is about placing the bucket correctly, avoiding wasted movement and keeping the cycle smooth. Long shifts in a quarry also demand good visibility, a comfortable cab and hydraulic response that allows the operator to work with confidence.
At Daglingworth, the SY750H appears to have found its place quickly. It brings weight, reach and bucket capacity to the job without looking out of step with the site around it.
Old Site, New Tools
There is also a nice contrast to the story. Daglingworth is a quarry with history, working stone that has shaped buildings and landscapes across the region for generations. Yet down on the quarry floor, the tools being used are modern, powerful and built around today's expectations of productivity, safety and support.
For Awesome Earthmovers, that is what made the visit interesting. This was not just about seeing the first UK SANY SY750H. It was about seeing where it had gone to work, why it had been chosen and how it fitted into a live quarry environment.
At Daglingworth Quarry, the new SANY is part of a wider story: the development of a historic limestone site, the growth of Heritage Quarry Group and the arrival of a new heavy excavator contender in the UK quarrying sector.
For the operator climbing into the cab each morning, the task is simple: start the machine, work the face, load the trucks and keep the quarry moving. With 80 tonnes of SANY muscle now on site, Daglingworth has a serious tool for the job.