SELF ERECTING TOWER CRANE CASE STUDY

Location: Bassetlaw Hospital, Worksop, S81 OBD

Bassetlaw Hospital is managed by the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Hospital was completely rebuilt between 1982 and 1987 to expand on previous facilities. The Hospital has 170 beds and an Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department.

Crane Hire Company: Falcon Tower Crane Services Limited

Falcon Tower Crane Services is the largest tower crane supplier in the UK and the UK agent for Potain. Currently the fleet at Falcon stands at approximately 70 ‘Self Erecting Tower Cranes’. Falcon has close ties to the manufacturer and pride themselves on having the youngest and most diverse fleet of this type of equipment in the UK.

Principal Contractor: Integrated Health Projects (IHP)

IHP is an established joint venture between VINCI Construction UK and Sir Robert McAlpine. IHP is a leading provider of outstanding healthcare solutions and offers a comprehensive development, design, construction, and facilities management service.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)

RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete that was used in roof, floor, cladding and wall construction. Its uses were extensive between the 1950’s to mid-1980’s.

It was widely expected that RAAC planks would give adequate visual warning to pre-empt failure. There have subsequently been significant failures with little to no warning and this does not comply the theory mentioned below.

Nationwide surveys have been initiated on a considerable number of properties around the UK, not all of them are in the Public Sector. The NHS Trusts alone applied for £331.9M of additional funding to spend over the course of three years.

The Project: To remove and replace sections of the hospital roof.

IHP were awarded the contract at Bassetlaw Hospital to remove and replace sections of the hospital roof. Recent incidents involving roof panels of this type, has led to a nationwide campaign to replace them. The NHS requires hundreds of millions of pounds to repair 20 hospitals around the UK in one of the biggest campaigns for government funding of its type. The NHS does not expect to have all the RAAC type roof panels removed from Hospitals across the country until 2035.

Simulations and response training has been implemented to react to roof collapses in buildings.

Further works by IHP will see the construction of what has become known as an ‘Emergency Village.’ This will comprise of a new Children’s Assessment Unit and an expanded Emergency Department.

Site Specific Complexities

In order to successfully remove and replace the RAAC roofing at Bassetlaw Hospital exacting planning and preparation was essential to minimise impact to visitors and patients.

The logistics of getting construction equipment on site, as well as materials to conduct the repairs, was a mammoth undertaking. The Principal Contractor had to ensure that the A&E Department was not impeded in any way and that there was appropriate management of pedestrians and construction traffic. The project team ensured compliance by working closely with the Facilities Team, Fire Safety Advisors, Parking Management and other Key Stakeholders.

Surgical theatres were relocated to temporary modular units to ensure services remained fully operational and adequate control measures were implemented.

The Installation Design

IHP approached Falcon Tower Crane Services to provide a lifting solution for the remedial works on the roof. Regional Sales Manager, Philip Dunham, delivered the solution by utilising two cranes to cover three working positions.

The first crane was to be installed directly outside of the A&E Department to commence the works. This machine would then be relocated to a secondary working position and a subsequent crane would be utilised to cover a third position.

The crane working platforms comprised of existing hardstanding on the Hospital Grounds. Falcon supplied mat configurations to meet the requirements of the Temporary Works Design from IHP. The modular UniMat systems exclusively designed and manufactured from Universal Crane Mats Ltd are always the primary choice for a robust solution.

Post installation of the second crane, the machines would be working within the same airspace. The only way to adequately control the risk of collision, in this highly sensitive environment, was with anti-collision and zoning systems fitted to both cranes. AMCS provide a market leading solution to mitigate these risks and provided a comprehensive response to the problem.

It was designed that the Potain IGO50 was to be delivered, moved and dismantled using the GAPO drive system.

The Potain T85 was to be lifted on to its foundation with the use of a mobile crane. In this instance the crane could not be driven onto the foundation due to changes in level of the terrain.

The GAPO

This is a device used for the attaching and lifting of cranes for positioning on construction sites. Currently Falcon Tower Crane Services has three of the GA16 machines that are used on a range of Self Erecting Tower Crane equipment. In conjunction with a hydraulic powered steering axle, the GAPO enables positioning and turning of the crane in restricted areas.

This piece of equipment was fundamental to the installation of the Self Erecting Tower Crane.

The Cranes

The cranes of choice for this project both came from the manufacturer Potain. The lightweight panels were never going to create too much difficulty for capacity, but tower height and jib length were fundamental.

The first crane to be installed was the 2022 Potain IGO50 s/no.622974. The date of installation was 08 November 2022. This machine was then moved on 29 January 2023.

Due to the flexibility and versatility of the Potain equipment this crane was initially installed with the full jib deployed to 40m and then folded back to 29.6m when it was moved.

The second crane was the 2023 Potain IGOT85A s/no.623434. The date of installation was 21 January 2023. This was installed with a 45m jib and 35m tower height.

Both of these cranes utilise the same V3 control system from Potain. It provides operators with all the information required through the handheld controller for maximum productivity and feedback. The market leading variable frequency drive technology creates lower initial current rush enabling reduced power consumption. This is essential when connecting to the mains supply to avoid the necessity of using a generator within a sensitive environment.

The Results

The results of this project between IHP and Falcon speak for themselves.

On the 06 June 2023 post demobilisation of the cranes, it was announced that Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals became the first acute NHS provider in the country to successfully eradicate RAAC from its sites upon completion at Bassetlaw Hospital.

The standards employed on the IHP site at Bassetlaw were exemplary and cements the companies position as a market leading flagship company.

Through careful planning and execution of the works with the cranes, Falcon Tower Crane Services provided a lifting solution that exceeded expectations and showed the versatility and efficiency of the equipment.

IHP will continue the works at Bassetlaw Hospital and Falcon will move to the next job and continue to strive to be the leading provider of Self Erecting Equipment in the UK.

Closure

For more information on any of the topics covered herein please contact Falcon Tower Crane Services directly and they will be happy to direct you further

Written By

Peter McCord