History

Mastenbroek’s roots are in agricultural sub-surface land drainage. It’s where we began 48 years ago – we manufactured our first trencher in 1977 – and this pedigree gives us unrivalled expertise and experience in our sector upon which we base our continued focus for developing our diverse engineered solutions.

Mastenbroek milestones and ‘firsts’

• 1965: UK sales and service of Dutch manufactured drainage trenchers
• 1973: incorporated laser transmitter and receiver for automatic ‘on grade’ depth control for drainage trenchers
• 1977: commenced design and manufacture of Mastenbroek drainage trenchers and trenchless plows suitable for the heavy and arduous British soils
• 1977: machine build number 1 is still in commercial operation
• 1977: first of many Mastenbroek trenchers exported overseas
• 1980: the first to design and build an 80-tonne-plus land drainage plow
• 1983: developed the V-plow for self propelled trenchers to overcome potential soil structure damage from sub-surface smear and surface heave
• 1983: “tramline drainage” – CT12 tracked crawler truck follows in the drainage trencher tracks to accurately place backfill filtrate into the trench
• 1983: developed the first of many deep drainage trenchers for horizontal de-watering
• 1984: pioneered the use of hydraulic radial piston motors to power the cutting chain, which was subsequently adopted across the global trenching sector
• 1986: designed and manufactured the SS50, our first sub-sea self propelled trencher
• 1988: 1012 rock trencher for compact utility work with forward conveyor
• 1988: pioneered the gravel compactor to positively place filtrate back fill material in saturated soils
• 1989: model 1012D sportsfield trencher for on grade laterals and collectors with spoil removed to leave clean turf surface
• 1992: synchronised trenching – Syncro trench will simultaneously trench and install a pipe within a bedding surround to an on grade and on line laser precision, whilst keeping the operators safely at ground level
• 1995: designed and manufactured the SM250, our first inter-tidal trencher
• 1996: the first ‘on grade’ laser control for rock trenchers to sub-surface drainage accuracy
• 1998: model 7045, our largest rock trencher to date at 86 tonnes and 4.5 metre depth
• 2001: the millennium starts with the patented HRT Series – the unique reciprocating trenching head with undercut for hard rock and permafrost
• 2005: design and manufacture of horizontal cutting technology for in vessel green waste composting
• 2008: developed model 912 with trench head off-set for on grade trenching in restricted access areas
• 2011: incorporated PTX Trimble and Farm Works solutions for total GPS control of drainage trenchers – “on grade” and autosteer
• 2011: developed a deep dig trencher for in-situ soil mixing to depths in excess of 8 metres 
• 2023: Extensive development updates to our 171/17 rock trencher, rebranded to the "Bulldog" for the American market
• 2023: Design started on our largest trencher to date the 160/18, a 120 tonne modular dewatering / soil mixing trencher 
• 2024: Delivery of the 160/18 modular dewatering / soil mixing trencher