UK-based industrial equipment provider Lloyds Beal has upgraded a 100-year-old coil shed for D. Hughes Doors, a supplier of industrial shutters, with a new overhead gantry crane.
The project involved the removal of a non-functional, 30-tonne high-bay lattice crane, which was stripped of its copper and wiring, leaving only a steel frame suspended 9m above the ground.
The old crane, with an estimated tare weight of 35,000 kg, presented significant challenges due to its size and the low headroom beneath the steel lattice truss roof.
Lloyds Beal’s in-house appointed persons and crane supervisors planned the operation.
The company devised a custom lift plan, segmenting the obsolete crane into six manageable sections for safe deconstruction.
The dismantling process was executed using a Palfinger 78t/m lorry-mounted crane, ensuring precision and minimal disruption at 9m height.
Once the space was cleared, preparations for the new crane installation commenced.
Lloyds Beal has fabricated a new 5,000kg overhead gantry crane at its Caerphilly facility to meet the client’s specifications.
The crane features inverter-driven motors and a Street Crane ZX wire rope hoist, finished in the client’s branding, enhancing the building’s lifting capabilities.
Last month, Lloyds Beal completed the relocation of overhead cranes for Halton Systems, a UK-based company specialising in indoor air solutions.
The relocation involved moving the cranes to a new facility 15 miles away, ensuring uninterrupted production for Halton’s high-specification ventilation systems.
The relocation project was executed in two phases, with Lloyds Beal isolating and removing 50% of the existing gantry rails and one overhead crane initially.
The equipment was decommissioned, transported, reinstated, and commissioned at the new site before handling the second crane and remaining infrastructure.
