One of GGR’s mini cranes was recently hired to assist on one of the UK’s biggest waterways projects, The Helix near Falkirk. A UNIC URW-506 spider crane has been working alongside “The Kelpies”, a spectacular new piece of public art.

Lead by Scottish Canals and Falkirk Council, The Helix is a £43 million project to transform 350 hectares of land between Falkirk and Grangemouth, turning it into a public park, event space and new lock system. The Kelpies Hub area of The Helix is at the mouth of the Forth & Clyde Canal and features a new canal lock and basin.

The 3 tonne capacity UNIC URW-506 spider crane was able lift new walkways, hand rails and four 2500kg lock gates into position around The Kelpies statues. The compact and lightweight mini crane was able to easily work in restricted spaces, on uneven ground and around other construction plant on the busy site.

Inspired by the mythological water horses in Celtic folklore, “The Kelpies” sculptures were created by Glaswegian artist Andy Scott. Each nearly completed horse’s head weighs 300 tonnes and stands at 30 metres tall. Take a look at this clip from BBC’s The One Show visiting the site and talking to the artist himself.

GGR’s mini spider cranes have installed two of Scott’s masterpieces in the past, the “Equus Altus” packhorse in Trinity Leeds shopping centre and “Egeria” the nymph in Greenock, Inverclyde.

In 2012, a UNIC URW-506 mini crane also helped carry out essential maintenance to the nearby Falkirk Wheel, the world’s only rotating boat lift. To drain the boat lift of water before repair work could start, the UNIC mini crane built a coffer dam by lifting wooden beams on the reinforced concrete aqueduct.  The crane then replaced the wooden buffers along the canal basin which provide protection to the boats as they pass through.

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