All eyes will be on Yorkshire this weekend as the Tour de France Grand Départ is being held in the county, the first time the race has taken place in the North of England.

Stage 1 of the three week 2200 mile bike race will go from Leeds to Harrogate, before Stage 2 takes the riders from York to Sheffield.

GGR’s mini cranes and lifting equipment has worked all over Yorkshire and on many landmark locations in Leeds and Sheffield. So in honour of the UK’s largest county and more importantly the home of Emmerdale and Yorkshire puddings, here’s a list of the top 10 favourite jobs that we have worked on in the region.

1. Trinity Leeds

GGR’s mini spider cranes, glass vacuum lifters, pick and carry cranes and Starworker trailer cranes were all hired to help transform Leeds city centre by working at Trinity Leeds shopping centre during its five year construction.

GGR’s equipment was used for glazing shop fronts, installing external façade panels, building a stone staircase, lifting pizza ovens and fitting panels to the impressive glazed dome roof at the £378 million retail development. Take a look at our mini crane working from the rooftop of the Everyman cinema.

Our UNIC URW-706 mini crane also installed the mall’s centrepiece, Andy Scott’s Equus Altus steel horse sculpture.

2. English Institute of Sport, Sheffield

GGR’s UNIC URW-706 mini crane dashed to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield to glaze the viewing gallery overlooking their athletics track.

The mini crane and MRT4 glass lifter worked from the running track of this world class training facility where Team GB Olympic athletes such as Sheffield’s own Jessica Ennis-Hill have trained and competed. Find out more about this job here.

 3. First Direct Arena, Leeds

GGR’s 6 tonne capacity UNIC URW-706 made another trip to Yorkshire to help put the finishing touches to Leeds’ first major music venue, the First Direct Arena.  This is where the Tour de France opening ceremony will be held on 3^rd July 2014.

Fitted with a GL-UMC600 robotic attachment, the mini crane was able to fit angled screen glass panels onto hard to reach areas of the arena’s façade. Read more here.

4. Ripon Cathedral

One of our smaller UNIC mini spider cranes headed over to Ripon in North Yorkshire to help install glass porches to the entrance of the famous cathedral.

A favourite for jobs in listed buildings, the UNIC URW-095 model was chosen for this job as its compact frame could easily fit through the cathedral doors and its LPG power supply only emitted non-toxic fumes into the air. Read the full case study about our work at the cathedral.

5. Eureka! The National Children’s Museum, Halifax

A UNIC URW-506 mini crane hired from GGR helped create a new gallery at one of Yorkshire’s most popular museums, Eureka in Halifax. The spider crane moved sculptures of noses and other body parts up onto an upper level of the museum. Find out more here.

6. The Hepworth Wakefield Art Gallery

With its façade overlooking the River Calder, GGR’s EMU 1000 glazing robot was hired to replace a large 460kg broken unit from inside The Hepworth Art Gallery in Wakefield.

7. West Yorkshire Police divisional headquarters, Leeds

GGR sent an Oscar 600 Offroad glazing robot to help install some blast-proof doors to the custody suite of West Yorkshire Police’s new divisional headquarters near Elland Road in Leeds.

Working on uneven ground in a restricted access area, the offroad Oscar could lift the 350kg doors into position by handling them in a sideways position. Read more about this job.

8. Maltby Leisure Centre, Rotherham

A pair of GGR’s UNIC mini spider cranes were asked to help build a 4 metre diving pool with prefabricated concrete blocks at Maltby Leisure Centre. A UNIC URW-506 and UNIC URW-706 mini crane built the steel diving platforms and positioned the 1.5t concrete blocks.

A Galizia G150 pick and carry crane was also used to lower both mini cranes into the pool and lift them out again once the job was complete.

9. “Cheese grater” car park, Sheffield

GGR’s 7 tonne capacity G70 pick and carry crane was used to install steelwork in the basement of this 10 storey steel-clad car park in Sheffield known as the Cheesegrater or Sugar Cube thanks to its distinctive look.

The compact crane was very carefully winched down the 3 metre drop to the basement using a wooden ramp. Did you know that the Charles Street car park came third at the “World’s Coolest Car Park Awards” in 2013 (yes that exists!)? Read more about this job here.

10. Scalby Mills, Scarborough

Two of GGR’s compact cranes headed to Scalby Mills waste water treatment plant in Scarborough to complete the tricky task of installing carbon filter systems inside the small works building.

A UNIC URW-095 spider crane and a G70 pick and carry crane worked in tandem to provide the reach and lifting power required to move 4 tonne drums through a narrow doorway and into position. Read the whole story here.

GGR’s lifting equipment is available for hire nationwide. For more information contact your nearest depot.