Our history
2010 Three tradition-rich companies, Hünnebeck, SGB and Patent, join forces to operate under the name of Harsco Infrastructure. This gives birth to one of the biggest suppliers of formwork, scaffolding, powered access equipment and industrial services worldwide with sales of around .5 billion (2008). 2009 Harsco acquires ESCO Interamerica, one of the biggest suppliers of engineering services for infrastructure work in Latin America and the Caribbean. This acquisition represents a significant strengthening of Harsco Infrastructure’s presence on the South American market. Harsco Infrastructure is the first company to launch onto the market a table form system completely without timber beams. Topmax, as the innovation is known, has an extremely sturdy only 12 cm thick, maintenance-free, hot-dip galvanized, powder-coated steel frame into which a high-grade plastic ply is nested. 2008 International expansion is progressing rapidly: further companies are founded in Peru, Romania, Russia, and South Africa in 2008. 2007 With its ECOPLY, Harsco launches onto the market the first all-plastic ply. This plastic form has a service life on an average three times as long as conventional timber and produces concrete in fair-faced quality. 2005 In November 2005, the US company Harsco Corporation acquires Hünnebeck. Together with the affiliates SGB and Patent, Hünnebeck constitutes the Access Services unit which commands leading positions in the world rankings for formwork, scaffolding as well as industrial services. 2000 SGB becomes a part of Harsco Corporation, one of the world’s biggest industrial services providers. Together with Patent, SGB constitutes the Harsco Access Services segment. 1999 SGB establishes the Powered Access division to become a leading supplier of all forms of access equipment. 1982 With the launch of its QES (Quick Erect Scaffolding), Patent sets up a new division: Industrial Services. 1964 Patent becomes a part of the Harsco Group. The 1940s and 1950s Patent expands its lineup to include formwork. Initially, the company develops systems on the basis of scaffold frames but then very quickly creates its own formwork systems. Patent, likewise in the 50s, launches onto the US market the formwork systems of Hünnebeck. 1929 Dr. Emil Mauritz Hünnebeck founds in the 20s in Essen, Germany, the Rautennetz GmbH company dedicated to the design and manufacture of the lozenge net developed by its founder. This is the start of the Hünnebeck story. 1919 Daniel Palmer-Jones founds Scaffolding Great Britain (SGB). A year later, the company launches onto the market the first steel-tube scaffold, thus revolutionizing scaffolding at the time. Right from the start, SGB proves to be an innovative supplier to the construction trade. 1909 In the USA, the three companies, Pitou, Beinecke and Davidson, found Patent Scaffolding. The same year and with the introduction of a heavy-duty scaffolding system, the company sets new standards in access equipment safety. 1853 As the predecessor of Harsco Steel Corporation (HARSCO), Harrisburg Car Manufacturing Corporation is founded. The company is renamed in 1935.