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Ainscough Crane Hire recently worked alongside Transport for London (TfL) and Nationwide Traffic Solutions (NTS) to remove a tower crane on Blackfriars Bridge in London.
With the job taking place just 100 yards from the main southeast railway line that passes through Blackfriars Station, it took around seven months to secure road closures to allow for the arrival on site of one of Ainscough’s brand new heavy cranes.
The 650t crane took up to 10 hours to rig, and it was the first time the team had used a 63m Luffing Fly Jib, 6.4m Main Boom, and a Y Guyed at 60 degrees.
This particular crane is a Vario outrigger and can be used for a multitude of jobs thanks to its wide selection of settings, where most cranes usually have two.
Located in the middle of Blackfriars Road on the busy junction of Stanford Street, the Ainscough team worked day and night through the weekend to ensure the job was complete for 5 am on Monday morning.
Spanning across three traffic islands for up to 55 hours, the works saw the temporary removal of five traffic lights and two CCTV stands, as well as the addition of traffic marshals and fencing to create safe walkways for pedestrians.
Bob Beardmore, Heavy Cranes technical manager at Ainscough Crane Hire, said: “It was an honour to be a part of such a huge job that saw the use of some of our latest crane technology. We worked closely with TFL and NTS to ensure a safe and efficient process that allowed the works to take place.
“It was absolutely a team effort to get the crane to where it needed to be, and through persistence and hard work we were able to get the job done.”
