R&J Hogg

Challenge: 

R&J Hogg is a fifth-generation family business based in Suffolk and has worked on more than 200 churches in East Anglia. In one project, it was commissioned to carry out a survey of the underroof of a 600-year-old church in Bunwell, Suffolk. The door into the church was narrow and space inside very restricted. The only viable place to set up an access platform was close to the altar, then the team would have to boom the basket all the way back down the nave.

Solution: 

After scoping the project, R&J Hogg hired a Hinowa Lightlift 20.10 Performance IIIS tracked spider platform from TBS Plant and Tool Hire in Bury St Edmunds. In travel mode, the boom is just 795mm wide so could be tracked through the church door and then down the nave. With one-touch set up, the platform was safely ready to work at height in seconds, even though the outriggers were placed at two different heights.

Outcomes: 

The Hinowa LL 20.10 has a maximum working height of 20.15m and a maximum outreach of 9.7m. In this case, the exceptional boom reach allowed the underroof inspection to be carried out safely, quickly and efficiently from one location. The platform is available in a range of power formats. It can have a low-emission diesel or petrol engine, plus mains 110v electricity for internal working, or have all-electric power from long-lasting lithium-ion batteries.

“We’re all clear that the Hinowa is the best spider platform we’ve ever used. We can get it into some extraordinarily confined spaces and once set up, it gives us the best manoeuvrability in terms of placing the basket where we need it to be to do our work.

“The unrestricted basket capacity of 230kg is also very important to us, because we often have to work at full outreach while having an operative plus a technical specialist from our client or a heritage agency in the basket at the same time.”

Martin Jackson, Company Site Agent R&J Hogg