UK demolition giant safeguarding Olympic legacy.
Keltbray is helping to transform the former Olympic Park into post games-mode and has demolished and removed a 500 tonne pedestrian bridge for Balfour Beatty as part of the Queen Elizabeth legacy project. With five main girder trusses, some weighing over 75 tonnes, this is the largest single lifting operation Keltbray has undertaken.
The ‘Stratford City Bridge’ which is over 70 metres long and 30 metres wide, was designed by Tony Gee & Partners and constructed by Balfour Beatty to provide primary access for spectators entering the Olympic Park from the Westfield Shopping Centre. It features five main steel girder trusses, weighing over 75 tonnes and spanning 55 metres over the waterways canal, longer than the adjacent Aquatics Centre pool.
“Working in such a high profile area the project had a number of complex issues to contend with at planning stage including stringent safety and environmental controls working adjacent to the waterways, logistical constraints in the park and numerous lifting and plant operations occurring simultaneously on site but the bridge was removed ahead of programme and without any major incident/accident,” says Keltbray’s project manager Gavin Lawless. “We originally looked at the possibility of removing the bridge for reuse elsewhere as a complete unit, but were unable to find a suitable location so the timber decking has been removed 90% intact with most of it donated for use in a sustainable eco-garden at the Cre8 Lifestyle Centre in Hackney Wick to benefit the local community. The remaining materials, including concrete and steel, are being crushed and recycled for use in other projects.”
Keltbray’s lifting operations manager, Steve Leyton, was extensively involved in the project and spoke regarding the main span lifts: “A Liebherr LG 1550 1000t mobile crane was used to lift the main girders as part of the single biggest lift operation Keltbray has ever completed. It is also the first time a project of this size was not sub-contracted out under CPA contract lift agreement. We hope with this new in-house expertise, we can reduce our craneage costs and become more competitive in securing future works of this kind.”
