With the wind and weather fighting us for every inch and the Christmas break rolling in, our involvement with a local icon in Littlehampton set us and our friends at Landbuild some considerable challenges.
First of all, the lawned area around the site was tackled by our hire instals team and decked out with TUFF TRAK – giving all of the teams involved and their associated equipment a firm place to work without bruising the turf.
Meanwhile, in a yard some miles away, the lift team set about planning and configuring the lifting rig to the harbourmaster’s watchtower that was still under construction.
Whilst being a gem of a structure to look at, with its fine timber cladding, high spec glazing and striking hand beaten copper roof structure, it became clear that the requirements for safe transport and lifting within the scope of the project had been somewhat overlooked along the way.
This meant we really had to get our quick-thinking caps on. A method of extracting our cross beams out from one side of the lift once Phase 1 was completed by the fabricating of some special recovery beams, meaning we could reattach our recently acquired 99 t/m FASSI crane to the point of balance and lift them clear.
In addition, a separate scheme to sequentially jack and remove our set of packing shims to seat the pavilion on to the tower had to be realised.
The oversized dimensions requiring abload permits and escorting, the treacherous winds and the short midwinter daylight hours compounded the problems.
But with our trademark cheerful determination and resourcefulness – and despite not getting back to base until 8pm on the last Friday before Christmas – the battle was ultimately won.
Pictures care of Ryan Russel, Connel Preston, Carl Somner and Wayne McKinder.
