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28th June 2016

Ainscough Crane Hire South Yorkshire Site

crane

Never ones to let restricted access get in the way of customer delivery, the Sheffield team at market leading national lifting solutions company, Ainscough Crane Hire, have been at their resourceful best to deliver a long-term lift contract at the development site of a new biomass-fired power plant in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Access to the site is severely restricted by a single-track bridge which crosses the River Don. The bottleneck and weight restrictions on the bridge means the required 400 tonne cranes are too heavy to cross. Ainscough’s 1,000 tonne Liebherr [LTM 11000] crane is lighter when set up for road travel and can then be built up in situ.

Stripped of its auxiliary components, the crane was just able to make the journey over the bridge with approximately 100mm of clearance at either side. The crane is then re-assembled on the live site side of the bridge to complete its tasks.

Ainscough has been appointed to provide contract lifts by the joint venture partnership of Interserve, the international support services and construction group, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund. It won the £150 million construction contract for the new power plant which is being delivered by the Brite Partnership.

Based in Templeborough, Rotherham, the power plant will be fuelled with locally sourced waste wood and have a capacity of 45 MW. The power output generated from the plant will be equivalent to the energy consumption of 70,000 households and result in an annual carbon dioxide reduction of 360 tonnes.

Damian Napper, depot manager at Ainscough’s Sheffield depot said: “Work in the energy sector requires specific skills and capabilities and we are well versed in the requirements needed to deliver for our customers.

“This is an exceptionally challenging site and, like many, has a challenging construction programme to deliver against. We have been on site since October 2015; positioning the site office cabins was our very first job here.

“We have assisted in almost every aspect of the programme so far from piling and groundworks to the steel frame which we are currently working on. We have started to lift the main boiler components. It’s a fascinating project to be engaged with and one which keeps challenging us in different ways.”

The new facility is expected to be fully operational in the second quarter of 2017. The Biomass fuel used in the facility will be sourced on a long-term contract from Stobart Biomass Group.

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