PLS lifts ambitions to new heights

A Sheffield lifting firm has embarked on “monumental lift”.

Professional Lifting Services Ltd (PLS) is carrying out a large-scale lifting project at the city’s tallest single-storey building as it prepares to remove a rare water-powered crane dating back to 1913. 

Work is taking place at Sheffield Forgemasters’ West Heat Treatment works on Hawke Street, where the existing crane will be extracted through the roof before being replaced with modern equipment manufactured by GH Cranes.

Planning for the complex project has taken more than a year, with challenges around height, radius and reach demanding the use of a 650-tonne crawler crane and the removal of a substantial section of roofing to access the site.

The upgrade forms part of wider plans to reinstate the building as a specialised facility for the vertical heat treatment of long, cylindrical forgings.

A Liebherr L1600 crawler crane with a 90-metre boom will lift out the historic Sir William Arroll crane and install a new 130-tonne capacity beam crane featuring enhanced hoist speeds. 

The project brings together several contractors, including DWLS, Weldex, AB Roofing Solutions, Don Valley Steel Fabricators & Engineers and Houzzlife Scaffolding.

Kevan Greasley, operations director at PLS, said: “This is a monumental lift, with a wealth of considerations and factors to enable a successful decommissioning of a 100 plus-year-old crane and installation of a new, highly efficient beam crane at very high elevations. 

“PLS is the primary contractor for the West Heat Treatment project, and we are working with a highly skilled team of sub-contractors to orchestrate a lift plan which has no room for error or misjudgement.”

Steve Marshall, head of engineering at Sheffield Forgemasters, added: “We have worked with PLS for a number of years and they have a great deal of expertise in managing highly complex lifting operations, which few businesses could attempt.

“A lifting plan for the West Heat Treatment crane swap has been underway for more than 12 months and addresses the difficulties of working in very confined spaces, at a height of 40-metres above floor level.

“This project is estimated to take 14 weeks to complete and is by far the most complicated lifting operation that we have undertaken, but essential to reinstating this dedicated facility.”

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