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Ainscough Crane Hire has continued to support the construction of Hinkley Point C in Somerset ‐ the UK’s first nuclear power station to be built in over two decades ‐ with the successful installation of two nuclear grade CRF concrete pipes.
Ainscough Crane Hire was appointed to the job by Bylor, a partnership of two of Europe’s most dynamic engineering and construction specialists – Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke, and Ainscough’s long‐term client at the Hinkley Point C site.
Ainscough has been involved in the project since 2014. In that time, Ainscough’s dedicated on‐site team has delivered hundreds of lifts for various works. Once complete, the ambitious new station will provide low‐carbon electricity for around six million homes, create thousands of jobs and bring lasting benefits to the UK economy.
Over a 24 hour period in mid‐January, an eight‐person Ainscough team began the operation to install two nuclear‐grade CRF concrete pipes weighing 22t each. These will be used as part of the turbine cooling piping system. The team used a Terex CC2800 crawler crane with a main boom of 108m, on an SSL/LSL configuration. The Terex CC2800 has an impressive lifting capacity of 600t, making it well‐suited to lift the heavy pipes into place.
In charge of rigging the cranes were crane operators, Derek Munro and Paul Davis, and slinger/signaller, Mark Hillman. The lifting team consisted of slinger/signallers, John Dey and Carl Barton and crane operator, Andrew Surridge, from Ainscough Crane Hire’s Heavy Cranes division. Supervising both teams were lifting supervisors, Dale Hamilton and Dave Hodgson, respectively.
Due to the complexity of the lift, Matt Jarman, manager at Ainscough Crane Hire was in charge of organising twenty‐one trailers and nine vans for the rigging and lifting of the cranes. He succeeded without delays in what was the most challenging job that Ainscough has completed at Hinkley Point C so far.
All works were carried out in compliance with current government coronavirus guidelines, and the team also worked to comply with the additional safety considerations necessary when working at a nuclear site.
Another challenge for the Ainscough team during the lift was adverse and windy weather which meant a small delay was incurred while they waited for conditions to become safe enough to carry out the lift. The client praised the team for their speed and expertise in rigging the crane, and for flawlessly executing the lift in the allocated time frame.
Commenting on the lift, Matt Jarman said: “We are pleased to have successfully completed another lifting job on the Hinkley Point C project, on which we have been a long‐term collaborator now since construction first began. Our expert team worked throughout this entire programme to ensure best practice and safety standards were reached, and it has been fantastic to hear this hard work reflected in the client’s positive feedback.
We look forward to continuing to support the construction of Hinkley Point C, a landmark infrastructure project that will make a valuable contribution to the future of the country.”
