New Crane Arrives at Sheffield Forgemasters

The first of 11 overhead cranes, each spanning up to 35 metres, has arrived at Sheffield Forgemasters’ New Machine Shop site from GH Cranes’ manufacturing facility in Northern Spain.

The crane is one of two 150/40-tonne capacity cranes, with an additional four service cranes of 200/40 tonne capacity, five 250/50 tonne cranes, a tandem lifting beam for up to 400-tonnes lifting capacity all set for delivery by the end of the year.

Manufacturer GH Cranes beat four other world-class crane manufacturers in the tender process to be awarded the contract to design and supply all overhead cranes required for the 30,000 m2 facility which will operate some of the world’s largest Vertical Turning Lathes.

Photo: The new crane arriving to the Sheffield Forgemasters site

Harry McClean, Project Manager at Sheffield Forgemasters, who oversaw the crane’s arrival, said: “With our New Machine Shop building now being clad, it is incredibly exciting to see the first overhead crane arrive on site, ready for installation.

“The cranes are the first working elements of the new machine shop following installation of crane rails and electricity feeds and will be operational and in use as we work to assemble the new machines when they arrive.”

Manufacture of the remaining cranes at GH is underway, and delivery aims to complete by the end of the year with one crane arriving each week in the interim.

Sheffield-based PLS will be installing all the cranes on behalf of Sheffield Forgemasters.

The machine shop project team consists of Arup, which handled the ecological and travel assessments, Bond Bryan Architects, and JLL, which acted on behalf of Sheffield Forgemasters for the site acquisition and planning submissions, and delivery support partner, Turner & Townsend.