Big Carl, the world’s largest crane is ready to start work at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station site. The crane will be used to lift the heaviest elements for construction of the new nuclear power plant.
Tony Gee worked in collaboration with BYLOR, a Bouygues TP and Laing O’Rourke joint venture to design a 500m long reinforced concrete foundation to support the crane on-site. Most of the reinforcement was prefabricated locally and has been lifted into place on-site to streamline construction.
We adapted our processes to meet BYLOR requirements, including reinforcing and fixing the prefabricated cages directly from the 3D model prepared in-house. This was achieved by understanding the client’s modelling procedure and liaising with the Design for Manufacture and Assembly reinforcement detailing software developers.
The SCG-250 runs along 6km of rail track and will lift 700 pieces, with a maximum weight of 1,600 tonnes during construction of Hinkley Point C.