Case Study & Gallery – Rotherham Bridge Replacement by Osprey

Osprey Heavy Lift was contracted to take on the challenge of lifting out a redundant bridge in Rotherham and replacing it with a new 49m long bridge weighing 156t. The complexity of the operation was increased as the boundaries to site included a railway, a river and a public road.

Over the Bank holiday weekend of Saturday 28th to Monday 30th May 2016 the old bridge on the site of the new Templeborough Biomass plant was lifted out and a new bridge craned into position. The new bridge was lifted in as a single piece. The bridge has been assembled at the site during May by Reid Steel from Christchurch in Dorset. The ‘Big lift’ took place overnight on 28th May with the old bridge being lifted out and transported away. The crane being used for this lift was a Liebherr LG1750 with a maximum height of 136m. At the time of the lift there were only four of these in the UK.

Osprey Heavy Lift’s scope was to provide a fully managed contract lift covering all aspects of the operation from end to end. Along with the boundaries of the site, timing was a big factor that had to be taken in to consideration.

The erection of the crane, all the lifts and dismantling of the crane had to be completed over the bank holiday weekend. With the crane taking two days to erect and two days to dismantle, a solutions based approach to planning was required. With the experienced resources available to Osprey Heavy Lift, 24 hour working was enabled whilst meeting stringent working hours regulations and site safety rules.

In the planning phase a drone inspection of the existing bridge was carried out so that the lifting points could be calculated safely and in a timely manner.

Osprey Heavy Lift’s dedicated heavy cranes team took the project from enquiry to successful completion by providing a solution focused approach, using in house assets and skills to ensure that the project was delivered safely, on time, within budget and in a value-added manner.

Photograph courtesy of Templeborough Biomass Power Plant

Photograph courtesy of Templeborough Biomass Power Plant

Photograph courtesy of Templeborough Biomass Power Plant

Source Osprey Heavy Lift and TempleBorough Biomass Power Plan

Photographs courtesy of Osprey Heavy Lift, except where stated