Giant crane installed for REME at Larkhill

A 31m crane to support Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME) operations at Larkhill arrived at the Garrison on this month, following a journey of over 180 miles.

The huge heavy load crane has been installed in a new workshop being delivered under the Army Basing Programme for the REME at Purvis Lines. Its SWL (safe working load) is 10 tonne and it will be used to lift vehicle parts/engines from military vehicles for maintenance.

The crane was supplied by Streetcrane and travelled to Larkhill from Derbyshire over two days, leaving the company’s site at Chapel on Le Frith at 6am on Tuesday 9 October, arriving on Garrison at 6pm on Thursday 11 October.

The long vehicle transporting the crane was 3m wide and 37m long with the entire load weighed 44,000kg.  All the police forces, local councils, highways offices, Network Rail and transport agencies along the route had to be notified in advance and it required its own escort.

Anna Taylor, Section Manager for Aspire Defence Capital Works, said:

“Despite much detailed planning going into this delivery, the delivery vehicle and its escorts were held up in traffic on the A34. Thankfully the crane arrived on site without causing any disruption to the Army, or to the roads surrounding Larkhill.”

Now that the crane has been safely installed, Briggs & Forrester (ADCW’s mechanical and electrical contractor) will continue with the building services install.  Once power is available and the building is in a suitable condition, Streetcrane will return to site to commission the crane and train the final Army users and the Aspire Defence Services Limited maintenance team on its operation.