takes four, just in case. As if that were not enough contingency for one or two nights’ work, Armac goes a step further. During the demolition of a motorway bridge over the M1, the company was faced with late completion penalties of £18,000 per hour. The company assembled what is believed to be the largest ever fleet of demolition fire power for a bridge demolition comprising 14 hydraulic excavators ranging from 70 to 50 tonnes; two 7 tonne hydraulic breakers; four 6 tonne breakers; six 4 tonne beakers; four 6 tonne pulverisers; four 4 tonne hydraulic processors; two 7 tonne shears; and a fleet of 12 x 40 tonne payload dumptrucks. “I knew we would have a lot of machinery on site, and it all had to work all the time we were operating. And one of the most obvious causes of non-scheduled downtime is a hydraulic failure or damage to a hydraulic part,” explains Armac’s operations manager Matt Right. “So I arranged for Pirtek Birmingham to provide cover for the entire
time we were operating at Catthorpe. They provided two vans with MSSTs working 12 hour shifts from 8pm Friday evening, during the set up period, right through to Sunday morning when we were clearing up.” Having called upon Pirtek Birmingham’s support on previous bridge demolition projects, Right says he knew what to expect. But even he admits to having been genuinely impressed by the level of commitment shown on the Catthorpe contract. “Pirtek have helped us standardise the hydraulic hoses and fittings on our excavators in the past. This meant that any repairs would be quick and efficient. There was a lot of forward planning and the Pirtek engineers were all briefed and inducted on site so everything ran like clockwork. They became part of our team and were very proactive, even helping to change excavator attachments to help us save time,” Right concludes. “I can honestly say hats off to Pirtek, they did a very professional job, and Skanska and the Highways Agency were chuffed to bits that it all went to schedule.”
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker