At LGH, we take pride in delivering a flexible, responsive lifting gear rental service, with a huge range of industry leading lifting equipment available at all times, in any location, to meet your requirements as and when they arise. However, some lifting gear jobs are much more involved than this, requiring significant planning and design to meet unique challenges.
Project: Stator removal at Rugeley Power Station
Partners: BAM
LGH Businesses: LGH UK and LGH EU
Project background
BAM Construction, part of the worldwide Royal BAM Group and leaders in BIM and sustainability, called our UK team with a problem. They needed assistance in removing two 210 tonne stators from a decommissioned power station in Rugeley, England. Our team began planning the operation six months in advance to ensure the project was a success. Our engineers had to find a solution to designing a lifting beam with slings and shackles capable of lifting 210 tonnes, as well as taking into account the extremely restricted headroom required for the lift. It was a challenging project where our expert knowledge could thrive.
When BAM called our UK team in to assist with the removal of two 210 tonne stators from the decommissioned power station at Rugeley, they we started planning the operation six months in advance. Not only did our engineers have to design a lifting beam with slings and shackles capable of lifting 210 tonnes, they also had to take into account the extremely restricted headroom available for the lift. It was a challenging project that would demand input from multiple teams.
Project design
This project demanded co-operation between our UK and European teams. Although the project was based in the UK, the lifting equipment required was designed and assembled by our European team in Ridderkerk, Netherlands. LGH have the ability to move knowledge and equipment regularly across countries and continents, location is no obstacle when delivering the best and most efficient solution and service to our global clients.
Although this was a UK based project, the lifting gear equipment was designed and assembled by our European team at the LGH workshop in Ridderkerk in the Netherlands. This is typical of the LGH way of working, where knowledge and experience are shared across the group and across the world to deliver the best possible solution for our clients.
Access to our extensive European fleet of lifting gear products, and the expertise of our European colleagues, meant that the company was able to respond more effectively to the brief and more economically to the budget than any other UK lifting equipment hire company.
Project equipment
The UK and European team designed a lifting solution that enabled the client to utilise their two existing overhead cranes. These each had a capacity of 110 tonnes and were combined to create enough power to lift the 210 tonne stators.
The lift rigging equipment used included:
- 2 x HTZ Multi-lug beams
- 4 x 200 tonne shackles
- 4 x 40 tonne slings (@8m)
- 2 x 125 tonne wide body safety shackles
- 4 x 50 tonne round slings (@4m)
- 4 x 85 tonne shackles
Altogether, the 12m multi-lug lifting and handling equipment weighed in at 11,300kg and was transported from the Netherlands by truck.
Project outcome
As a result of the intricate and detailed planning by the LGH teams in both the UK and Europe, the beam lift rental designed by LGH performed exactly as expected, completing the lift of the two stators in just one day. What’s more, the specialist lifting equipment provided came in under budget and was delivered exactly on schedule to fit in with the ongoing clearance of the former power station site.
Project reaction
“It is exciting to witness projects like this and to be involved with the detailed planning of every aspect of the lift,” said our Simon Cruse, LGH Technical Sales Manager. “It was a job well done.”
