Low ground pressure tracked spiders & booms assist with inspection of London flyover

Challenge: The A40 Westway, incorporating the Marylebone flyover, is a vital transport link for London that is used by 96,000 vehicles daily. Construction contractor Costain required a working at height solution to help it inspect 21 concrete supporting pillars along the route, which runs through the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, and the City of Westminster.

Inspecting the bearings at the top of the pillars posed some unique access challenges, as the area under the road is also densely occupied. It is home to a range of businesses, a leisure centre, football pitches and a comprehensive school.

Solution: Specialist hire company Fast Plant Swindon Limited worked closely with Costain to help it win the tender for the work. Fast Plant Managing Director, Mat Monet, even carried out a detailed survey of the 4.6km route on foot, in order to recommend the best possible access platforms for each pillar. He selected a range of Hinowa Lithium tracked boom lifts, along with some Niftylift HR12 hybrid booms. Fast Plant provided an IPAF-accredited operator for the Hinowa machines, Sean Crowley, who also oversaw all access platform activities on site.

Outcomes: The low ground pressure of the Hinowa booms meant that, when used with ground mats, they were able to cross over 3G football pitches. At one point, they also had to work on sand that was over half a metre deep. The Lithium booms are much quieter than diesel machines and this proved to be important for night shift work, as survivors of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower were sleeping in emergency accommodation in the nearby Westway Leisure Centre. During one shift, Costain was able to double the number of pillars inspected due to the efficiency of the Hinowa boom lift.

“Originally Costain had planned to use alloy towers for some sections that it had deemed too problematic for access platforms. I was able to demonstrate that the Hinowa Lightlift 26.14 Lithium could do the job in a fraction of the time. This also meant that they could eliminate the hire and labour costs of tower scaffold. The Hinowa boom had the ability to fit into a pretty confined space, and had the up-and-over capabilities to get us over a 15 foot fence to where we needed to be.”

- Sean Crowley, Fast Plant Swindon Ltd