Recognised across construction
A high level of customer service
The world's first carbon neutral training centre
The largest precast concrete installation specialist in the UK
Interlocking Aluminium Crane Mats & Outrigger Pads
Temporary Safety Hole Covers for Construction
Alternative Shuttering Method
Stacker Packers, our engineered levelling shim with a high compressive strength
Safe, fast and cost-effective drilling
Construction’s Fastest Inflatable System
Permanent shuttering solution for hollowcore unit ends
The safe lightweight block moving system
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Brandon Stafford
Procurement Manager
At B & K Hybrid Solutions Limited we have dealt with Brilliant Ideas for a number of years and found them not only very helpful and customer focused but also having excellent technical backup which has been invaluable on a variety of projects. We use ALIMATS® because they are modular, loadings are proven, and good stocks are held at their depot. It is a lightweight system split into handleable panels and easy to move and transport in a van, a great alternative to using solid steel plates which are heavier, needing a crane to move them on site which is time consuming.
We also use Brilliant Ideas Stacker Packers. These are lightweight, colour coded and safe to use with no slippage and easy to carry around site. Any surplus unused packers can be stored, and re-used on future projects whereas the alternative would be Steel packers which are heavy, and they rust.
The service we get from the team at Brilliant Ideas is excellent. They are all easy to talk to, very knowledgeable, customer focused, and they deliver when promised. They are competitive on price and their service sets them apart from others – you want to buy and hire their products again.
At B & K Hybrid Solutions Limited we’re the UK’s leading sustainable frame contractor, committed to building a greener environment and cutting emissions. Knowing most of their products are manufactured in the UK is a valuable selling point for us – we’re working with a local supplier which is helping to cut carbon emissions, and we’re proud to support UK business.
Craig Finn
General Manager, Flooring
ALIMATS® is the best product on the market for spreading load from the crane outriggers. They are lightweight and handleable for two operatives to carry. The panels interlock so the load is evenly distributed across the mats, even with large loads.
We also use some of Brilliant Ideas other construction products. Our hauliers use a Slapp Clamp which is a lightweight option for unloading pallets of blocks and much safer than using a block grab and takes up less space. The Pole Driller allows the site team to drill holes into the hollowcore from ground level so it’s a safer option than working at height. It’s quicker too, as we don’t have to spend time setting up and moving platforms, reducing time on site.
With Brilliant Ideas you’re getting a family-based service on a national scale. When you ask for something, it’s done. They’re a nice team to work with.
David Meadows
Plant and Transport Manager
We only ever use ALIMATS® for crane mats. They create a very good base for all contracting work across our housing projects and rebuild work. They do the job; the product is so good I’ve never had any negative feedback or complaints from site, so they must be correct and right for what we need and that’s important to us.
Every single time we ask for an ALIMATS® delivery it arrives on time and that’s what I like about the team and product. They have never not delivered when promised. We’ve worked with Brilliant Ideas for several years and are very easy to deal with.
John Whitham
Senior Operations Manager
We’re using ALIMATS® on our HS2 project in Birmingham because they come with an impressive load comparison chart. The interlocking modules are lightweight and easy for two operatives to unload and place into position without mechanical aids.
Brilliant Ideas always deliver on time. ALIMATS® is a great idea and excellent product backed up with an extremely supportive team.
Tom Drury
Contracts Team
We’ve used ALIMATS® for as long as I can remember. They are fairly unique; we can’t fault them. ALIMATS® does exactly what it says on the tin, and are a massive improvement on timber mats. We use them for most projects to reduce ground bearing pressures across schools, colleges, hospitals and car parks.
There’s no-one better than Brilliant Ideas and we wouldn’t want to work with anyone else. They’re reliable and faultless from the contracting side to invoicing and do what they say they’re going to do. With other suppliers it’s not always like that. Whoever does the hiring at Brilliant Ideas has a great talent for spotting the right people. They really are an exceptional team.
Dave Bloor
Installations Manager
We operate on a nationwide basis so most of our sites use mobile cranes. When ground conditions determine outrigger mats are required we always recommend ALIMATS® as they’re handleable and strong. The ALIMATS® interlock allows for a more robust set-up and the mat modules stay in place during adjustment and operation. The detailed loading information and material certification is popular with temporary works engineers. With non-interlocking systems there can be issues with site debris preventing proper set up. Heavier non-handleable systems on the market may also want short rigging, which in many instances is not recommended.
The Pole Drilling service improves safety on site as drainage holes in the hollowcore can be drilled working at ground level. It’s a cost-efficient option for us as the drilling operative moves easily and quickly around site with the lightweight kit, and we no longer have to hire access towers.
Richard Wade
Managing Director
The SLAPP Clamp works brilliantly for us as our crane is fitted with a specialist finger grab for offloading flooring beams; and we needed something to offload pallets without dropping the grab off. We now attach the SLAPP Clamp using a short chain with the beam grab still in place.
From a health and safety perspective, the SLAPP Clamp is certainly safer for lifting pallets than slings. It works very well. It’s a good lightweight alternative to a full hydraulic block grab and is compact meaning it doesn’t take up much deck space. There’s nothing else like it on the market. We’re very impressed with it.
Philip Cope
Managing Director
We operate for some of the largest main contractors in the UK and when sites require outrigger mats for mobile cranes we always recommend ALIMATS®. They are handleable and eliminate short rigging which can be necessary with other systems.
ALIMATS® are delivered on small vans reducing site congestion which is a huge advantage on tight city centre sites compared to heavier mats delivered on larger vehicles. The interlock ensures a robust solution and the supporting documents can be included in the Temporary Works Design and lift plan.
Their Hole Covers are a great alternative solution to drilling and fixing timber board. The small Cover is tool free to install and reusable.
All products developed by Brilliant Ideas are tried and tested and often provide a simple but safe solution to various on-site health and safety challenges.
Mike Tomlinson
Installation Manager
The ALIMATS® system works well and we use them on 9/10 jobs. Our temporary works team look at the ground, do the calculations and there’s never a problem with specifying these mats to spread load. They interlock, are simple to set-up without heavy plant and straightforward to work with.
The Brilliant Ideas team are easy to deal with and their quotations come through quickly and within budget. We can rely on them for a quick turnaround. Sometimes jobs come through without very much notice, but they always deliver.
Adam Smith
Senior Site Manager
The Instant Pipe Shutter gives us a nice-neat finish around service pipes and is a much better option than using plywood. It’s a cost-effective and reusable product. They also save us time because the Shutter is easier and quicker to fit than plywood and simpler to get off once we’ve poured the concrete. We use them around soil pipes and between floors. They do a good job and are perfect for what we need.
Gary Spencer
Project Manager
We approached Brilliant Ideas for a load transfer solution for our school project in Coventry. We were working with a beam and block floor system which would not have withstood the weight of MEWPS prior to insulation and floor screed, so we wanted a working platform to enable us to use lifters to enhance the beam and block floors structural integrity.
Dan Westgate came to site, took measurements and very quickly came back with a reasonable costed proposal. Dan’s design worked exceptionally well and enhanced the integrity of the floor slab allowing us to carry out high-level fire protection work. I’m familiar with ALIMATS®. It’s an excellent product providing structural support, but we hadn’t used these mats in this particular scenario before. The Brilliant Ideas team set everything up so there wasn’t a lot for us to do. The aluminium interlocking modules go down and come out quickly. The solution worked brilliantly.
It was a challenging project which we got over the line with help from Dan and the team. We would definitely use the ALIMATS® solution again.
Steve Hamilton
Appointed Person of Lifting Operations/Temporary Works Coordinator
Our project involved lowering a dismantled compact spider crane from a suspended floor at Finsbury Square in London.
Due to the complication of placing a wheeled 6.5 tonne crane onto 100mm composite concrete slab, we needed a great deal of temporary works. The initial thought for a solution was to spread the point loads with the use of bog mats and road plates but this would have created its own issue with manual handling and weight of the matting.
Brilliant Ideas gave us a much greater solution and resolution to the issue with ALIMATS®, a product versatile enough to complete the task. The product can also be manhandled without the use of mechanical aid, which was a preferable option.
Dan Westgate at Brilliant Ideas drafted up a drawing whilst offering plenty of guidance. Despite an unforeseen change to the floor layout which changed the effectiveness of the first design solution by Dan, he offered to do a site visit, after which a second design solution was given in quick and effective fashion. This rectified the fresh problem that had risen.
Brilliant Ideas service, support and follow-up was excellent. ALIMATS® is a great lightweight and durable product which our team could assemble and dissemble on their own. This powered access load spread solution got us over the line.
Neil Berry
Managing Director
When Brilliant Ideas started to sell ALIMATS® we were the first to purchase a set of 24 – that was 13-years ago, and they are still going strong because we’ve looked after them. We bought them because they’re lightweight and easy to position without short rigging. The interlocking modules are quick to set-up and extremely time saving, which is why a lot of sites prefer them.
Transportation costs are low because delivery can be made on a small van – but we use a small recovery vehicle because of the lower bed. The mats are painted in our corporate colours.
The investment was well worth it – I’ve had my money back a few times over. They paid for themselves very early on. It’s fair to say they’ve done us proud.
Paul Gerrard
Managing Director
A huge thank you once again to Dan Westgate and the team at Brilliant Ideas who helped us at very short notice to accommodate the unforeseen circumstances we faced. This helped us with another happy customer. I’ve been using the ALIMATS® system for over 10 years and always find it to be extremely versatile.
The weight makes the mats easy to transport and handle once they’re on site. The new variations that are available make the product even better to work with and the clip together element of the design is always the preferred choice in my opinion. I highly recommend working with and using the ALIMATS® system from Brilliant Ideas wherever you can.
Simon Berry
Managing Director
I’ve appreciated the benefits of ALIMATS® for ten years – that’s why I recently bought a set.
ALIMATS® are versatile. I can create small and large mat configurations when I add them to my one-piece aluminium mats or use them independently for smaller cranes and tighter set-ups. Because ALIMATS® are made of aluminium they’re lightweight. This means I can transport a set of twelve to site in a small van or on a trailer. They’re also easier to man-handle into restricted positions because the mats have handles.
The great thing about ALIMATS® is they’re strong because of the aluminium extrusion. This compliments the extrusion of my one-piece mats and allows for an even stronger mat when combining sets to give a larger surface area. The equivalent nylon mats just don’t offer the strength required over the larger surface areas.
Mark Downie
Project Manager
Hole Covers
‘Brilliant Ideas Hole Covers are really handy. You can put them down, lift them up and reuse them. In the past we’ve cut up timber, but these don’t last and they’re a trip hazard. The Hole Covers are bright yellow so you can’t miss them and they’re pretty much flush with the floor, making them a much safer option’.
ALIMATS®
‘ALIMATS® are very easy for two people to move around and put into place. Steel pads are heavy and have to be craned into position which is an expensive option – whereas ALIMATS® is a cost-effective solution. For some of our projects we have to hire different crane sizes, but with ALIMATS® we can use the same size mats to create different configurations. We would definitely use them again’.
Sean Smithson
Project Manager
I found the hole covers to be extremely useful not only because they cut down the amount of time to install by up to 50% but they are easily identifiable due to their bright yellow colour. This is a quick fix product for what is usually a labour-intensive job with an added benefit that they can be re-used.
Tom Wimpenny
Site Manager
We use Hole Covers on most projects where we have to drill holes in slabs to pass the services through. These are quick and easy to install and remove and a much better option than covering off the whole area. Open service holes on site pose trip hazards and injury, so we use these covers for their safety aspect on precast and cast-in-situ floors. Whenever we place an order, the team are always easy to deal with.
Adam Johnson
Senior Site Manager
We use Brilliant Ideas Hole Covers when core holes have been drilled. They’re very quick and easy to install – we just squeeze the two pegs together and push them into the hole. They sit low on the floor and there’s no trip hazard. Using the hole covers eliminates the need for plywood and the expense of employing a joiner. The covers are reusable, so when we’ve finished we pick them up and move them. When our Safety Manager visited site he was so impressed that he put out a recommendation that other Kier sites use them.
Tim Jones
Project Manager
ALIMATS® is a really good product. It’s a clean, lightweight system that’s very easy to use – you can’t get it wrong. The Brilliant Ideas team send the mats with detailed loading information, it’s fool proof. Their service is excellent. They deliver and collect on time and have even offered to offload for us. We depend on this system and use it a lot – there have never been any issues. ALIMATS® is well worth the hire cost.
Josh Ross
We’ve been using ALIMATS® for about five years. They are by far the best distribution of outriggers – they bring the loadings down significantly. It’s a far better system than Ekki mats and other conventional systems.
ALIMATS® come with handles, are lightweight and easy to move around.
Brilliant Ideas are competitive on price. It’s a good rate when you consider the product you get. There’s lots of flexibility around hiring them – from one-day to longer-term hires.
Their customer service is very efficient and they are good to do business with – they always deliver when they say they will. If I need ALIMATS® to be on site at 5am, that’s when their driver will arrive. We’ve never had to wait for the mats to turn up.
John Calvert
Senior Contracts Manager
The Shutter Clip is much easier for our installers to use – it’s a quick process because you don’t have to wait for the concrete to stiffen to put into the ends of the units, making it a cost-effective solution.
Using the Shutter Clip means we’re compliant with Building Regs – we’re not using products that we shouldn’t be to create a shutter at the ends of the precast. It also allows us to follow the design of the homogenous floor and that the shear key concrete works as it should. The Clip actually improves the quality of workmanship which benefits the follow-on trades as it’s easier to build walls off and that the correct loads can be applied.
It definitely speeds up the process because we don’t have to send someone to clean concrete from around and in the cavities – so secondary works aren’t needed. One of our housebuilder clients stipulates that we use the Shutter Clip as this gives them a greater standard of finish. It’s a great product.
Rees Blakeley
Site Manager
We’re using Stacker Packers to shim up 300-pre-made bathroom pods on a multi-storey development at 250 City Road. Each one weighs 2 tonnes and measures 2.5m.
To position the Stackers, we’re working with a short gap of 80mm to 90mm, plus there are walls to two sides of each pod. There are six positions under each pod where the 65mm to 85mm high stacks need placing. Some of the stacks have to be pushed to the back of the pods, so one of the advantages of these plastic shims is their inbuilt dowels which creates an interlock to form a safe and stable stack. It means when we lower the pods down on the jacks if it compresses in one area it’s very easy to hook out one stack to add a 2mm or 3mm shim to make up the shortfall on the concrete floor, before repositioning it again. It saves a lot of time, and our site team aren’t having to manoeuvre heavy pods.
Being able to mix up the 2mm, 3mm, 5mm and 10mm shims to suit the task in hand, is very beneficial. The flexibility of Stackers also allows us to clip together adjacent shims – we interlock four shims to form a bigger bearing area of 140mm x 140mm square. And because Stackers are load tested it means we can be confident that the pods won’t sink when people start to move in. The alternative would be metal, but steel shims are heavy and expensive.
Steve Burley
Senior Site Manager
We’ve already used thousands of them on a premier league football club development project and we intend to use them again on our forthcoming projects. Stacker Packers is a great product.
Craig Billyeald
Project Director
We’ve been trialling the small and large hole covers across our sites and they’re a good option for us. From an efficiency perspective, we’re cutting waste. With timber, you’re buying it, throwing it away and then buying it again for the next project – whereas Brilliant Ideas hole covers are robust and reusable. From a productivity perspective we’re speeding up the installation because the hole covers are very quick and easy to install and remove, making them cost effective.
Peter Woolley
Site Manager
Billington Structures are currently installing steelwork and precast terracing units for a new stand at Wakefield Trinity Rugby Club where we are using all our expertise and trusted supply chain members to produce a high standard of installation. We are using Stacker Packers as we have total confidence in the performance of this product.
The Packers are made from a durable high-grade plastic which is ideal for levelling the heavy loads of precast terrace units, walls and stairs we are placing. The interlocking dowels mean that the packs are completely stable when stacked vertically – they also add stability when a larger area of packers is required.
At Billington Structures we believe in quality across all of the products we supply, and we are pleased to have Brilliant Ideas as part of our supply chain for this particular type of product.
Richard Cresswell
Operations Supervisor
The safety net recovery system was a solution to a problem where floor heights and obstructions meant that we couldn’t get a MEWP to the underside of the safety net for rescue. The net was installed by rope access technicians, but we needed an alternative method of rescue from below. At the time, there wasn’t a system that would work to the height we were looking for, so we approached the team at Brilliant Ideas.
They custom-built a larger airbag system for us, giving us recovery from a floor-to-floor height of around 4.5m. We used it on a challenging project with very strict safety measures in place.
Our operatives in charge attended a training day at Brilliant Ideas training centre, so that they were fully prepared should they need to use it – which they didn’t. The simplicity of this net recovery system solved and overcame a problem on this project.
We would definitely look to implement this solution again.
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