A train museum required a glazing replacement to allow visual access to antiques inside and outside as well as allowing plenty of natural light into the display room. While a simple glazing lift in appearance the restriction on crane placement, tight angles, overhangs and fixed brackets. GGR Group were able to offer a solution with their range of lifting equipment and specialism in challenging lifting projects.

After completing a site survey, lift plan and risk assessment GGR selected both the 295 and 546 Mini Spider Cranes with the P11104 and short arm MRT4 Glass Vacuum Lifters respectively. This selection of equipment would allow our team to lift the glazing with ease both inside and outside with consideration for the ground bearing conditions and the reach required.

The 295 was specially selected for the replacement of a glazing panel from inside the building. This was due to the positioning of a round post in the window opening which would prevent crane access from the outside and as the structure being a listed building the post was not able to be temporarily removed.

GGR Group had to apply special considerations to the indoor part of the installation, taking care when manoeuvring the crane within the listed building and other obstacles. The 295 was set up with a searcher hook and the MRT4 to allow easy lifting despite the low 4.6m headroom. The searcher hook meant that a 4.5m hook height could be used while still allowing the glass lifter to get close to the window opening. This was essential due to the glass needing to be lifted over the bottom brackets with the top of the glass behind the soffit as well as the glass needing to clear the steel door frame and soffit.

After successfully installing the indoor glazing unit our team moved outdoors to set up the 546 for operation. With a 1.2m overhang and the furthest unit an 11m radius away the 546 combined with a searcher hook was able to offer the precision and capacity needed to install the 240kg max glass units. To adapt to the challenging overhang for replacing the upper units the searcher hook was used, while the main hook block was used for the lower units.

GGR Group’s lift team along with their innovative lifting equipment and Mini Spider Cranes completed this project successfully.