It arrives loaded
The unit travels on the same vehicle that lifts it. There is no second movement, no crane waiting on standby and nothing to co-ordinate between two contractors.
7 June 2016 · Manchester
Manchester City Academy works
Cabins and containers in on the deck and craned off into position on a live development, working from the road alongside the ground.
Why it suits a hiab
One vehicle does the whole thing
It reaches over the boundary
The vehicle stands where it is allowed to stand and the crane goes over the fence line to the position. On a constrained site that is the difference between a delivery and a problem.
It leaves when it is finished
Lift, place, chains off, legs up, gone. The road is occupied for the length of the lift rather than for the length of the job.
The job
Site accommodation, placed from the road
On 7 June 2016 Nortons hiabs worked on the Manchester City Academy development, taking cabins and containers in on the deck and craning them off into position. The vehicles worked from the roadway alongside the ground rather than from inside the site.
The work itself is ordinary for us and that is rather the point. A truck-mounted crane arrives with the unit already on it, sets its legs, lifts the unit off the deck and puts it down where it is wanted. Nothing waits for a mobile crane, nothing waits for a second vehicle, and the road is blocked for as long as the lift takes rather than for the day.
On site, June 2016
The day’s photographs
All from the one job. Click any of them to see it full size.
The rest of it
Other grounds, other jobs
There is a longer account of the Anfield site setup, and events covers stadium, festival and Christmas market work. For the same job on ordinary sites see portable cabin transport, and for hiab work across the city hiab hire in Manchester.
Common questions
Site work, answered
What did Nortons do at the Manchester City Academy?
Site accommodation work. Our eight-wheel hiabs took cabins and containers in on the deck and craned them off into position on the development, working on 7 June 2016. It is the same job we do on most construction sites — the difference here was the setting and the access.
Why does a job like this need a hiab rather than a crane?
Because the unit arrives and is placed in one movement. A mobile crane has to be brought in, set up and paid for while it waits for the delivery; a truck-mounted crane is already under the load. On a site where you are placing a handful of units rather than a hundred, that is the whole argument.
Can you work from a public road?
Often, and on constrained sites it is the only way. The vehicle stands where it is allowed to stand and the crane reaches over the boundary to the position. That needs the reach to be worked out properly beforehand, and it needs somebody to have thought about pedestrians, traffic and what is overhead.
Do you work on live sites with other trades on them?
Constantly. Almost every site accommodation delivery we do is onto a site that is already running. Our drivers hold the lifting qualifications, we work to the principal contractor’s permit system, and the exclusion zone goes up before anything leaves the deck.
Do you do sports ground and stadium work generally?
Yes. There is a fuller account of the Anfield site setup on the Liverpool FC page, and the events page covers stadium, festival and Christmas market work.
Units to place on a live site?
Tell us what is going in and where it has to end up. We will tell you whether it works before anybody books a road closure.
