Compact Hinowa spider lift helps conservationists on National Trust site

Challenge: Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks in Kent, is regarded as one of the finest surviving examples of an English 14th century manor house. There are over 70 rooms in the National Trust property, arranged around a central courtyard. The site is surrounded on all sides by a square moat, crossed by three narrow bridges. Conservationists working for the National Trust required an access platform to enable brickwork replacement at the top of the tower, which was built during the Wars of the Roses. The machine had to be light weight so it wouldn’t damage the courtyard and compact enough to pass over the bridge and through a narrow archway.

Solution: Cannon Access, a leading independent access platform hire specialist, supplied a Hinowa Lightlift 23.12 Performance IIIS tracked boom lift.

Outcomes: The compact dimensions and light weight of the Hinowa 23.12 meant that it could cross the bridge and pass through the narrow archway. The low ground pressure and non-marking tracks ensured that the access platform left no lasting impression on the courtyard interior. The exceptional working height from such a compact chassis also meant that stone masons had complete access to the top of the medieval tower.

“A narrow self-propelled boom could have just fitted, but was way too heavy for the bridge and did not have anywhere near enough height or reach for the tower.

“The Hinowa 23.12 has really compact dimensions so it passed easily over the bridge and through the archway. The comparatively long tracks of the Hinowa machine spread the weight more than some other tracked booms, making it ideal for working in the courtyard of this historic manor house.”

-          Tom Cannon, Managing Director, Cannon Access