Vinci Building is spending £2.5m on a pair of Wolff 355B luffing tower cranes to help build the UK’s largest open-die forge.
These are the first cranes that Vinci Building has bought for more than 10 years – 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 355 B has a maximum capacity of 28 tonnes. On maximum jib of 60 metres it can lift 4 tonnes at jib-end. In basic 30-metre jib configuration it can lift 17 tonnes at jib-end.
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 £138m contract to put up a 13,800 sqm building, standing 40 metres high, to house what will be the UK’s 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: “The 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.”
Vinci Building regional director Chris Winspear said: “These cranes are a first for us – 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.”
