Vinci Building is spending 拢2.5m on a pair of Wolff 355B luffing tower cranes to help build the UK鈥檚 largest open-die forge.
These are the first cranes that Vinci Building has bought for more than 10 years 鈥� it normally just hires them. They are going to be on site at Sheffield Forgemasters scheme for around two years.
The first tower crane has arrived on site from the Wolff factory in Germany. John Sutch Cranes supplied telescopic craneage to help erect it in Sheffield last week.
The Wolff crane can lift a maximum of 24 tonnes, and four tonnes on the end of its 60-metre jib. The mast stands 40 metres highit can lift 4 tonnes at jib-end.
Wolff has also supplied Vinci, on hire, with an Ampd Enertainer battery storage unit to allow a smaller diesel generator to power the crane.
Sheffield Forgemasters was nationalised in 2021 and placed under the Ministry of Defence. It has since begun a recapitalisation programme, putting a 13,000-tonne forge line for critical defence work. Vinci has been on site since June 2022 delivering a package of enabling works. Earlier this year it was awarded a 拢138m contract to put up a 13,800 sqm building, standing 40 metres high, to house what will be the UK鈥檚 largest open-die forging facility. [See previous report here.]
The cranes will be used to construct the press pit foundations, the superstructure, gantries, chimneys and redistribute materials. The second crane is expected to arrive on site in the middle of 2025 and both will be working until early 2026.
Programme director Craig Fisher said: 鈥淭he arrival of tower cranes on our new Forge site will be one of the first external indicators of the large programme of work we are undertaking and marks a step forward in the delivery of the Forge building.鈥�
Vinci Building regional director Chris Winspear said: 鈥淭hese cranes are a first for us 鈥� we own them outright and the arrival and set up of the first Wolff 355 B is a major landmark for Sheffield Forgemasters and particularly for us at Vinci Building. It marks an investment in the project and our business.鈥�
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