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November 2011 cranes & access 17

mastclimbers & hoistsc&aIn it for thelong-termLike most construction related equipment, the mastclimber market has been going through a tough period. The tightening of the financial belt has meant a general lack of confidence and investment resulting in a reduction of both new build and major maintenance or refurbishment projects. Those thatare being let are under severe pressure to reducecosts which inevitably leads to pressure on equipmentprices, while performance and service expectationsremain high. In the UK, possibly the largestmarket outside of the ‘home markets’ of Scandinavia and Holland, the mastclimber sector is highly incestuous with just ahandful of players. The largestmastclimber fleet by far is HarscoInfrastructure with around 900units. Although its recently published nine month financial figures show an improvement (itslosses are getting less – just $26million this year) it blames Western Europe and the UK inparticular for ‘on-going weakness’.

Unlike those countries, which usemastclimbers for general construction and house building, theUK generally reserves their use forworking at heights of more than 20metres. As a result the 2008 collapse in the UK housing marketsince has not been a major factor inthe mastclimber market. And on apositive note, there still appears tobe a reasonable number of industrialand infrastructure projects on the gowhich are keeping the UK mastclimber fleet relatively busy.

The financial squeeze means thatcontractors are now pitching for thesame work at reduced prices. Forexample, tower block maintenancecontracts which used to be valuedat say £1.2 million are now typicallygoing for around the £700,000 mark.With the ‘access’ element generallyaround 10 percent of contract valuethis is a significant reduction and itis having a serious effect on ratesand the overall state of the mastclimber market. Several of thealready small numbers of companies(perhaps which have entered themarket from the contract scaffoldingbusiness) are reducing their presence or leaving the sector completely.

After Harsco, there are a few companies with fleets between 200and 300 units giving a total of about2,000 mastclimbers in the UK. Withthe high investment in trained labourand logistics needed to enter themarket, coupled with mediocre returns, any company wanting tosucceed in this market must have along-term strategy. It is definitelynot a ‘get rich quick’ sector!

However there are companies thatare doing all right. Walsall-basedAdastra was formed about 10 yearsago and was strengthened by amanagement buy-in in 2008 whichhas helped it go from strength tostrength (see following article).

Leighton Buzzard-based BFT Mastclimbing is another companythat despite the difficult economicalsituation says it has had one of itsmost successful years since it decided to focus solely on being amastclimbing contractor back in2005. It says that with full orderbooks for the next six to eightmonths, its outlook for 2012is quite positive.

Both BFT and Adastra emphasisethat success is based on giving afull service to customers - being involved from the building/contracttender stage through to the completion of works on site - gaining and maintaining a good reputation and securing repeat business from clients. Success inthis sector is all about being able toengineer and plan an efficient solution and then ensuring that thelogistics and erection crews areequally efficient and thorough.

BFT says that the cost cutting in theconstruction industry has meant increased enquiries for mastclimbers throughout the UK asestimators and quantity surveyorslook at ways to reduce costs andbuild-times over more traditionalforms of access. According to itscontracts director Jason Harris ithas recently toyed with the idea ofadding an additional 100 machinesto its existing fleet of 220 units.

With the normal life span of a mastclimber being around 20 yearsnew sales have been very low overthe past year or two and there is afair amount of second handequipment on the market, but thiscan be quite expensive.Because of this a few companiesin the UK have opted to giveChinese equipment a try out.

“Second hand equipment from manufacturers such as Hek can bevery expensive so we looked at

what the Chinese GJJ products(made by Jing Long EngineeringMachinery) had to offer,” said Adastra’s director Ken Goundrey.“We had the quality of the steeltested and the results were verygood and pricing was significantlycheaper. The rest of the mastclimberfeatures European components soquality is good and sourcing parts inthe UK is quite easy.”

Spain hit the doldrums about a yearbefore the UK and with a nationalfleet of over 5,000 mastclimbers atthe start of the recession manywere sold overseas very cheaply.However many of the units were designed for stucco or painting workwhich many think are too light-weight and flimsy for the UK marketand many have narrow (900 to1,100mm wide) platforms whichmakes working from the platform forsome trades more difficult. As oneUK mastclimber rental company putit: “You buy cheap, you buy twice.”

An unusual contractfor Hydro-Mobile

Alimak Hek

BFT Mastclimbing ishaving a very successful year

A low-level Fracomastclimber

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18 cranes & access November 2011

It’s in thebloodWalsall-based rental company Adastra was founded10 years ago, but can trace its roots back to the early1980s. Mark Darwin spoke to two of its directors -Peter Hoar and ‘mastclimber guru’ Ken Goundrey -about the company and the sector.

Goundrey is one of the most experienced mastclimber peoplein the UK starting way back in1983 with Yorkshire-based steelerection company Access Engineering. At the time most ofits contracts involved working onconveyors and transfer houses atSelby opencast mine, however its engineering managing directorJohn Garton spotted a mastclimber of sorts working onthe doors of an aircraft hanger inSaudi Arabia.

He was immediately impressed andon his return, like all good engineering entrepreneurs, he proceeded to build the original twowheeled, trailer mounted Satellitemastclimber which he then demonstrated around sites in Yorkshire, towing it behind his FordGranada.

The Satellite had a 12 metre longplatform and could free stand to aheight of 20 metres on the trailer,which was ideal for many trades. Increased marketing lead to thecompany going more into high riseconstruction and at this pointGoundrey was moved from the steelerection side of the business intosales and tasked to sell and promotethe new mastclimber products.

Access Engineering also set up ageneral rental division - BW Engineering - which focussed solelyon mastclimbers and was one of thefirst companies to offer mastclimberrental in the UK.

The product range never expandedbut the company successfully continued with the original model,selling more than 300 units. Gartonthen floated the company - AccessEngineering plc - towards the end ofthe 1980’s but stock market problems eventually meant he lost itall, having sold products into theUSA and South Africa. The companywas eventually taken over by theBET group becoming part of PTP,Powerclimbers and CSG. Manufacturing ceased at this pointbut the rental side continued with afleet of around 130 machines.

The UK recession of the early 1990’smeant most of the platforms wentoverseas. A few companies startedmanufacturing Satellite ‘look-alikes’but these also failed.In the mid 1990s another companystarted making a remodelled Satellite and with used equipmentreturning to the UK from completedoverseas contracts, Andrew Reidset up Mastclimbers Ltd which purchased a lot of the equipment

and went on to become the largest(now Harsco Mastclimber).

During that period mastclimbers became very popular and made biginroads into the scaffolding sector.Hek sold up to 400 platforms,Malmqvist more than 100 lightweight cladding units and GKNset up a mastclimbing division.

“Several larger companies havetried to run mastclimber rental fleetsbut have failed,” says Goundrey,“primarily because mastclimbers arefar more labour intensive than otherpowered access platforms. EPL andGKN were classic examples of access rental companies that addedmastclimbers and then struggledwith the labour problems of erecting, handing over, servicing anddismantling. Mastclimbers are a bitof a hybrid - not plant hire but notfull-on contracting.”

“With mastclimbers you are providing a service and not just apiece of equipment. It has to fit withthe site requirements and you must

coordinate with staff on site oroccupants in the building whichmakes it far more complex thanmost think. Many dabble with themfor a few years but then get rid.”

“We are not the cheapest but weoffer a good full service. New customers often just look at the initial price but should look at thewhole cost which includes sortingproblems out quickly and efficiently.90 percent of our equipment is lessthan three years old which helps reduce breakdowns and reliabilityproblems.”

Adastra historyHoar has been involved in scaffolding for more than 30 years,both with his own company LibraServices and then 10 years withFormscaff UK as managing director.He set up Adastra in June 2000building up a fleet of more than 20machines with revenues of£500,000 by concentrating on specialised jobs.

Peter Hoar (L) withKen Goundrey

Adastra now has afleet of 250 machines

“With mastclimbers you provide a service -not just a piece of equipment” Ken Goundrey



At that time Goundrey and KevinHayes were at Sovereign Accessbuilding it from sales of a few hundred thousand pounds to £4 million over a six year period. But in 2008 the company and management was acquired byHarsco (SGB) and were to be run asan autonomous unit. Unfortunatelythe recession began almost immediately and the parent company began to exert more influence. Goundrey remained foreight months, while Hayes lasted afew months longer. It was at thispoint they met with their old friendHoar, who agreed to make them allequal directors/partners creating themanagement team that exists today.The fleet is currently around 250units, close to the maximum thatcan be run from one facility.

“The hardest part of increasing thefleet is people - good riggers arehard to find,” says Goundrey. “Wehave 35 staff and a turnover of £2.2million. This has steadily increasedfrom £1 million the first year, whilein 2012 we expect it to reach £3 to3.5 million. We realise this is a service industry and have put a lotof emphasis on customer service,particularly health and safety,” saysHoar. “If you get it right in the yard,you spend less time out on site. Allour employees are fully trained sothat the equipment is installedquickly. Unlike most other mastclimber rental companies, weare members of Chas, Achilles andhave ISO 9001 which reflects ourprofessionalism. We are in it for thelong term and want to work with thetop customers. We also have ourown structural engineer which is essential as only about 20 percentof projects involve a standard installation.”

“We try to be part of the site team,not just a hire company,” he adds.“There is a job starting next February that we have been involved with for 12 months already- it is a new build with a lot of heavyglazing units and we are discussingwith the main contractor and glazingcontractor how to fit them, gettingthe machines in the right place,checking accepting loads etc. Weprovide a lot of added value.”

TrainingAdastra is also one of three IPAFmastclimber training centres in theUK, initially set up to ensure its operators were trained to a highstandard and can train up to installerlevel. The centre has been goingsince 2008.

“Once we hand a machine over it isthe main contractor’s responsibilityto have a competent person on siteto handle the equipment includingdaily and weekly inspections. Weoffer training for these installerswho can then train site operators.We also carry out the six monthlyLoler check.”

Product changesOver the years the basic design andtechnology has not really changed,”says Goundrey. “Most machines arestill rack and pinion with a button togo up and down and an emergencystop. These are very reliable andrugged machines but electronicscan cause problems. Within its fleetAdastra has a couple of Malmqvistmachines and 30-40 Heks but therest are Chinese GJJ (made byJing Long Machinery).

“With the high price of new andsecond hand machines, we lookedvery closely at the GJJ machines,including carrying out metallurgisttests on the critical steel components. The results were verygood and they have performed verywell. We went for the heavier duty700mm by 700mm mast sectionswhich are needed in the UK. Andwith their European-built major components spares can be sourcedlocally. We have even added someof their cradles for use where mastclimbers are not suitable. Surprisingly China has a huge market for hoists but has very fewmastclimbers.”

“There are several main advantageswhen using mastclimbers – such asreduced damage and a better finish -but we can supply the best packageeven if that includes scaffolding andhoists,” says Hoar. “Unfortunatelycontractors are very conservative

and rarely do a proper cost analysis.

You can get a far better render finishwith a mastclimber because youdon’t get the board and lift lines.Scaffold tie patterns can also disrupta higher proportion of the externalcladding/finish.”

The flip side of this is that mastclimbers place an additionalonus on the contract programmingas two trades cannot work at thesame time. Windows for examplewould have to be finished before thenext trade commences.”

Cradle divisionNine months ago Adastra also set up a suspended platform division for contracts where access makes mastclimbers impractical. “In contracts that have a combination ofprecast concrete and glazed panels the external seal between the two canbe done from a cradle, which is mucheasier and cheaper than erecting amastclimber,” says Hoar. “The secret is to give the client the best bespokeaccess package, regardless of whether that includes mastclimbers,scaffold or cradles.”

mastclimbers & hoistsc&a

Tapered bridge columns on the River Swalecrossing required specially designed mastclimbers

Contract programming isessential when using mastclimbers

Details of the River Swale crossing.



mastclimbers & hoists c&a

In its various guises over the past 60 odd years AlimakHek has been at the forefront of the mastclimber andhoist sector. The Swedish-based company has 15wholly owned sales, rental and service subsidiariesaround the world. Russell Bates the managing director of its UK operation is one of its longest serving employees at one of its longest establishedsales operations. Mark Darwin investigates....

Bates joined the company in 1975 becoming the firstmanagement traineethat Alimak took on inthe UK. Since then hehas spent time ineach area of the

company, getting to know everyaspect of the business. The UKoperation goes back to 1968, whenthe business as it is now wasestablished as Linden Alimak UK.The move followed the merger ofAlimak with Linden cranes theyear before. Alimak was wellestablished in the UK by then,Geoff Warlow - having taken onthe franchise in 1949 - becoming product manager at themerged company. Linden Craneshad previously been handled byGeorge Cohen and the 600 Group.The new company was based in Beckenham, Kent and moved to the current Rushden, Northamptonshire location in the mid 1970s.

Alimak and Hek both have long andillustrious pasts. Alimak founder andinventor Alvar Lindmark, started thecompany in 1948 and launched thefirst construction hoist in 1951, unveiling the first rack and pinionmastclimber in 1956. Dubbed the‘Jacobs Ladder’ it combined a hoistand work platform. In 1983 itlaunched its first modular mastclimber and sold off the cranebusiness and in 1996 acquired Italianwork platform manufacturer Cimar.

Dutch company Hek was founded in1962 by crane engineer Piet van Hekand his wife, designing and manufacturing construction equipment and material hoists. Thefirst Hek mastclimber came in 1976.The merger of Alimak with Hek in2001 created Intervect which wasrenamed four years later as AlimakHek. 2006 was a busy year addingthe manufacturing business of Champion Elevators in the USA, amanufacturing facility in China andacquiring the Conrent mastclimberrental business from Coates Hire inAustralia.

Changing ownershipThe current owner is the Triton groupwhich acquired the stakes of Ratosand 3i in 2006. Since the first hoist

was produced more than 60 yearsago around 40,000 Alimak Hekproducts have been deliveredworldwide. The company operatesthree development andmanufacturing facilities. Its rangeof hoists and industrial lifts, as wellas underground equipment, is developed and manufactured inSkellefteå, Sweden. Hoists for theAsian market are produced at itsfactory in Changshu, China and themast climbing work platforms,transport platforms and materialhoists are developed and producedat the Hek facility in Middelbeersthe Netherlands.

Tower cranesAlimak’s history with tower cranesshould not be forgotten. Swedish designed and built Linden-Alimakcranes were particularly popularthrough the 1970s with 6,000 cranesproduced before the decision wastaken to exit the sector and the division was acquired by Comansa.Linden-Alimak was the originator ofthe flat top tower crane when it introduced the Linden 8000 ModularSystem crane in 1977. “Unfortunately the decision wastaken to concentrate on the corebusiness of rack and pinion hoistsand Linden-Alimak was sold to Comansa,” remembers Bates. “Therewas a synergy between the towercranes and hoists that worked well.In the UK we set up a specialist hoistrental company but this was eventually sold to Delta Plant. Wehave not had a rental fleet in the UKfor many years although some of ourother divisions - particularly France,Germany, Holland and USA - do verywell with their rental operations.”

Hek! What the (Alimak) Hek!

Russell Bates

One of the first Hek mastclimbers

More than 40,000Alimak Hek productshave been delivered

worldwide

Very few contractsare straight forward

Working on theErasmuserug Bridge

in Rotterdam



While the technology may be verysimilar, there is a clear market division between mastclimbers andhoists. Even Alimak Hek divides itsranges - Alimak for the hoists andHek for mastclimbers.

“In the UK although the sectorbegan more than 30 years ago,mastclimbers are still in theirinfancy with only a few seriousplayers in each sector,” says Bates.“Numbers wise, I would think thatthe UK mastclimber rental market has around 1,500 drives andabout the same number of hoists.Our industry is quite simple -we supply platforms or cages thatmove people and materials upand down a building. Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on your point of view -hoists and mastclimbers can have a30 year lifespan if maintained welland certainly last a good 10 years ormore, even in high utilisation rentalapplications. Unlike tower and mobile cranes, there has been noreal objection from contractors regarding the age of the machineswe supply on sites.”

“As people carriers they should

really be tested every three monthswith a structural test every 12months. Fortunately there are veryfew accidents with mastclimbersand hoists and when they do theytend to occur during erection or dismantling. Overload sensing devices and the fact that they onlywork in a single fixed plane almosteliminates operational problems inthis area.”

Not all are created equal“There are more manufacturers entering the market which has led to some pricing pressures, hopefullyit will not impact the safety or qualityof the products” he says. “Althoughwe are seeing Chinese manufacturers trying to copy theAlimak hoists and starting to exportwhere perhaps the quality is notquite what it could be. Production inChina is huge, between 3,000 and4,000 units a year, however almostall are for the home market. AlimakHek has had a manufacturing facilityin China for several years and worksto international standards, howeverfrom what we can see the copiesclearly have a shorter life span.Grey imports of such machines intoEurope is raising some concerns.”

Currently Alimak Hek UK is performing well and having a verygood year. “Generally Alimak subsidiaries have four divisions that contribute to income - industrial, construction,rental and parts & service. Obviously construction is notperforming overly well at themoment, but the industrial sectoris quite buoyant.”

Alimak productsPowered access and scaffolding bothhave their own advantages andbenefits depending on theapplication. Alimak Hek uses its owncomputer programme with its clientsto analyse all the relevant data andrecommend the best solution for thejob. The company currently has tworanges of mastclimbing workplatforms - light and medium -and a heavy version is currentlybeing developed. The light range hasplatform lengths from 2.6 to 29.1

metres, with capacities up to2,970kg and a maximum liftingheight (tied) of 100 metres. Themedium range has platforms up to 51 metres long, a maximum capacityof 5,150kg and maximum tied heightof 200 metres. Its hoists include theScando 650 construction hoists,rack and pinion industrial lifts and transport platforms.

“The main Mastclimber developments over the years havebeen longer platforms and larger capacities,” says Bates. “The largestcan now carry eight tonnes. Thereare also innovative uses such aslinked masts allowing four sides of abuilding to be covered using just fourmasts – one at each corner.”

The latest products to be introducedare the TPL 300 and TPL500 hoists,both available in three phase 500kgcapacity or 300kg single phase configurations with dual functionalityas either a transport platform or material hoist.

The new lifts are completely modular,the load ramp position is fully interchangeable and can be installedon three sides. It can also be replaced by a bi-foldable gate toallow easy loading of the platformwith a fork-lift or when used as atransport platform for ease of personnel access. The enhancedmast design allows tie distances ofup to 7.5 metres giving the ability tospan three floors. The mast sectionsare connected by four eyebolts, permanently attached to the mastsection, making assembly faster andeliminating the risk of loss. An over-speed safety device brings thehoist to a controlled stop if the platformexceeds the rated speed.

Long-serversBates is not the only long-servingemployee at Alimak Hek. There areseveral other senior employees withmore than 25 years service. As wellas being UK managing director, Batesis also the group’s global used equipment manager. The divisionwas formed four years ago to buyand sell individual items right up toentire fleets. “We are one of the fewglobal companies that specialises inused mastclimbers and hoists, willing and able to buy and sell wholefleets of machines,” he says. “TheScando 650 hoist, introduced in2005, is now a big seller and hasbeen used on many of the world’shigh profile buildings such as theShard in London. We now have ahigher speed version - the 100 metres a minute 650 FC-S - whichwas launched at Bauma - four havebeen delivered in the UK this yearwith one working on St GeorgesTower (see separate story). There isalso a new increased capacity Mammoth twin masted hoist with a5,500kg capacity which we havesupplied and installed this year.”

“We try to offer customers a fullservice wherever they are located.We have a Wolff 2015 FL towercrane and a Scando combined passenger and goods hoist overthree storeys permanently erectedand have recently teamed up withCPQ, a CPCS testing centre, allowingoperators to come to our premises inRushden to train for both hoists andtower cranes. This again broadensthe service we can offer our customers.”

The newHek TPL300 andTPL500extend thecompany'sLightRange ofhoists


The Swiss RE orGherkin buildingin London

Mastclimbers have a30 year lifespan if

well maintained

Alimak Hek has 15 wholly-ownedsales, rental and servicesubsidiaries around the world



The first system - now in use at the 51 storey St George’s Towerproject in London - has a five byfive metre footprint yet is capableof running multiple hoists simultaneously. This allows all material and personnel hoists to be concentrated in one area,streamlining loading efficiency at ground level and minimising waiting times for men and materials, especially at peak times.

Using the latest Alimak Scando 650 FCS 100 metre a minute high-speed hoists reduces the fullheight transit time on St George’sTower to just 90 seconds comparedto over four minutes using standardhoists. The common tower also accommodates a three metre by4.6 metre ‘Mammoth’ hoist with apayload of 5,500kg. As only thecommon tower - and not the hoists- are tied directly into the building,it means external cladding can beapplied to the whole building during construction with the exception of the 4.5 metre accessopenings at each level. As a resultthere are far fewer panels to replace at the end of the project,which dramatically speeds up de-rigging.

CAS managing director TonyFaulkner said: “The savings in timethat our common tower creates are a real boost to efficiency duringthe construction phase. In addition,our common towers are far quickerto install and remove than conventional hoist systems, sothere are major savings at the startand end of the project as well. Highrise developments are becomingmore common in city centresthroughout Europe and with construction costs continually rising, using our common tower inconjunction with high speed highcapacity hoists makes increasinglygood sense.”

Keeping alow profileCambridge-based Construction Access Systems (CAS) working in conjunction with the University of Southampton Research Institute for Industry has developed a low profile,high speed aluminium common tower system for passengerand material hoists designed to reduce costs on high rise construction projects up to 70 storeys or 300 metres.

The 51 storey St George‘stower in London

The high speed hoist reducestransport time to just 90

seconds from four minutes



New York-based Atlantic Hoistingand Scaffolding was contractedby Tishmann Construction to provide suitable solutions for the1,776ft /541.3 metre high, 105storey building, which when complete will be America’stallest* and the third highestbuilding in the world. In order totackle the job Atlantic Hoistingjoined forces with manufacturersHydro Mobile and Raxtar to helpovercome some of the challengeson this prestigious job.

A particularly challenging aspect ofthe contract involved the logistics ofmoving 1,400 construction workersand their tools, along with the materials and equipment required ona daily basis, to each of the 105floors of what is a fast-track project.Tishmann had also drawn up a strictset of bid criteria for the hoist contractors on this and the nearbyMemorial building. A long list ofstipulations was developed and applied to the selection of equipment to be used. A primaryconcern was that no Chinese content was to be used in any component of the hoists. A non-counterweighted design wasalso ruled out on the basis of safetyand speed of erection. But most important of all was proven dependability.

Led by Greg Karas, Atlantic Hoisting’s team planned to use acommon tower for the hoists, which normally uses a four pole configuration, using scaffold orshoring components and decked ateach entry level to allow exit of thehoists and access from the towerinto the building. A common toweralso minimises interference with thecurtain wall installation and allowsthe building to be closed in earlier

than with conventional hoist configurations. However the extreme height of this tower broughtan additional challenge to the traditional concept of the commontower.

The team therefore decided to abandon conventional four polecomponents in lieu of rack and pinion mast sections at the four corners of the tower, which alsomade it easier to adapt to the hoistsand work platforms. Todd Rego,whose team at Atlantic was responsible for the construction anddesign of the common tower, claimsto have reduced his labour duringthe construction process by 30 percent, while significantly boostingthe factor of safety.

Having designed a solution and wonthe bid, Atlantic carefully placed 13Raxtar model RX3245 hoiststhroughout the two side by sideprojects. The company says thatRaxtar was open and receptive tospecific requests and the ideas toensure a safe and productive arteryfor the project.

Multiple 92 metres a minute,3,200kg capacity Raxtar RX3245SFTmaterial hoists were adapted withan overhead protection deck abovethe car to protect installer’s fromitems falling from the other tradesworking above them. The cars alsoincorporate numerous design features from the two companiescombined experience.

Since their installation in November2009, the hoists have run six days aweek moving between 1,300 and1,400 people a day to all floors ofthe building. It is expected that thehoists will run for an additional threeyears before the project is completed.

A structural common tower platformof this size is almost a building in itsown right, albeit a temporary one. Inorder to facilitate its construction acustomised mastclimbing work platform was designed specificallyfor the job by Canadian-basedHydro-Mobile. It is also in constantuse as the project climbs at thepace of one floor each week.

A Hydro Mobile mast climbing work platform is being used to constructthe common tower as it grows withthe building.*Chicago’s Willis (Sears) Tower has 108floors and its roof is 25 metres higher, butits overall height is just 442 metres.

Hoisting at theWTCOne World Trade Centre - or Freedom Tower as it was originally dubbed - is climbing its way out of the gaping space left after the destruction of the twintowers of New York’s World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. As it goes it up it is presentinga series of challenges for external access and mostcritically the hoisting of people and materials. One World Trade Centre is growing at the rate of a floor a week

The common toweruses four rack andpinion masts ratherthan the usual fourpole design

Two of the Raxtar 92m/min hoist cars in action

mastclimbers & hoistsc&a



The East End of London is currently a hive of constructionactivity, with major investmentprogrammes transforming the skyline and only part of which isconnected to the 2012 Olympics.A major landmark project in thismassive regeneration drive is thethree block, £23.5 million AlbertaHouse residential development inLondon’s Docklands.

The Brogan group has been contracted by Higgins Constructionto provide a tailored access packagefor the project which includes scaffolding, twin and single mastpassenger and goods hoists andmastclimbers for all three blocksthroughout various stages of thebuild. The central feature of the development is a 24 storey, 82metre high tower, which along withtwo smaller adjacent blocks, willprovide 133 high energy efficientapartments, with retail space atground level.

Since May last year more thantwenty, medium and heavy dutymastclimbers have been in positionto carry out the façade works, whilesingle and twin mast goods andpassenger hoists on three of four elevations have facilitated the transportation of materials and

personnel to the upper floors.Perimeter Cuplok scaffolding cantilevered off the 21st and 23rdfloors has also been installed to provide access for the roof work.In view of the height and locationof Alberta House, Brogan has alsoerected Combisafe Safety NetFans as an extra fall protectionmeasure. The nets are designedto catch falling persons, objectsand debris protecting both workers and the general public.

Mast climbers, hoists,scaffold and nets

A Stross single mast passenger hoist on the Alberta House project

Five single mast mastclimbers, on thefaçade of one of the two smaller blocks.

A Fraco ACT4 single mast mastclimberwith 10 metre platform offers 1,815kgplatform capacity




Bouygues Construction hasinstalled a Geda 2 PK craneoperator hoist on theproject’s tallest top slewingtower crane allowing theoperator to reach his cabfaster and more safely. Therack and pinion hoist canalso be used to rescueoperators in the event ofsickness or emergency.

Crane operator hoists aremandatory in variousScandinavian countries andthe Netherlands, butcurrently there is nostandardised Europeanrequirement.

With a 200kg capacity the 2PK is designed to transporttwo people at a time withspare capacity to transportmaintenance equipmentwhen required. Liftingspeed is 25 metres aminute up to its 120 metremaximum lift height.

Once the base unit has beeninstalled and anchored, the22kg lightweight aluminiumladder sections are erectedthrough the open car roofand fixed using the patentedquick-lock system. The hoistcan be operated by a controlpanel in the car or switchedto an external control ifrequired.

The main hall of the newsymphony hall will seat2,400 and is built on a twohectare plot next to theexisting Cité de la Musique.The building also includesoffices for severalsymphonies including theOrchestre de Paris, alibrary, rehearsal rooms,classrooms and an exhibitionhall. The hoist will be in useuntil completion in 2013.

You raiseme up…

The €200 million Philharmonie de Paris - the first largeconcert hall to be built in Paris since 1927 – is currentlyunder construction at the Porte de Villette in the NorthEast of the city, following a 20 year delay.

The Geda 2 PK has a200kg capacity

For erection lightweight aluminiumladder sections are passed through

the open car roof and fixed using thepatented quick-lock system


C&A 13.8 p1-33:Layout 1 11/24/11 2:40 PM Page 16

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