Construction milestone reached in £1.3bn Forgemasters project
The first of 11 overhead cranes has arrived at the specialist steel manufacturer’s machine shop as work progresses on its major manufacturing expansion.
The crane has been delivered from GH Cranes’ manufacturing facility in northern Spain and will be installed inside the 323,000 sq ft building, where it will support the operation of some of the world’s largest vertical turning lathes.
The machine shop is being built by McLaughlin & Harvey and is part of the Ministry of Defence-owned company’s £1.3bn recapitalisation programme.
Sheffield-based PLS has been appointed to install the cranes, while the wider project team includes Arup, Bond Bryan Architects, JLL and Turner & Townsend, which is acting as delivery support partner.
The machine shop, which topped out in July, is located on 16 acres of brownfield land on Weedon Street, towering 10 metres above the neighbouring Meadowhall shopping centre and Ikea.
The factory will house some of the world’s largest five-axis vertical turning lathes and is due to be operational by the end of 2028.
At the same time, construction of a building to house its 13,000-tonne forging line is also underway on a separate site nearby, also delivered by McLaughlin & Harvey.
The crane package includes two 150/40-tonne cranes, four 200/40-tonne service cranes and five 250/50-tonne cranes, together with a tandem lifting beam capable of lifting up to 400 tonnes.
The remaining cranes are scheduled to arrive by the end of the year, with deliveries taking place on a weekly basis.
The arrival of the first crane marks the latest construction milestone for the new machine shop, with the building now being clad following the installation of crane rails and electrical infrastructure.
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.”
