One of the main casting shops at this precast concrete production facility operated by Bison (part of Forterra Building Products) includes a series of four overhead gantry cranes supported off the main building structure.  JPP Consulting’s involvement began with design checks of the existing structure to enable replacement of an existing 12.5T SWL crane with a new 20T SWL model, to increase efficiency and productivity in a competitive marketplace.  This included a site survey to obtain as-built information needed for creating a computer model for analysis of the effects of this increased load, followed by detailed calculations of the reserve strength available in the existing steelwork.

Over the course of JPP’s works, Bison identified the need to further increase their overall lift capacity by using a pair of 20T SWL cranes to undertake 40T ‘tandem lifts’ of some of their largest products.  Developing the previous analysis model further, JPP checked the existing structure and determined where strengthening works would be required to enable these lifts. Detailed drawings for a variety of areas requiring works were then prepared, ranging from additional restraints on building columns, to significant full-height stiffening of the frame.

Bison Precast joined Forterra in 2017 and is one of the leading precast concrete manufacturers in the UK.