Steel giant Corus produced 3.5 million tonnes of steel at its 3,000 acre Redcar site every year and in the process consumed high quantities of gas to fuel its furnaces. A crucial link in the production cycle, the gas holder needed to be periodically refurbished. We were asked to devise an access solution to allow grit blasting, panel replacement and re-painting of the steel clad structure.
Working with specialist fabricator SBV Fabrications, we installed 11 MASTCLIMBERS ™. To access the 22 flat faces of the gas holder, single-masted platforms were erected against each alternate face and then re-erected on the remaining faces to complete the refurbishment.
Installation of the platforms was complicated by the presence of a large amount of pipework, tanks and other obstacles at the base of the gas holder. To overcome this, a 7 metre steel bridging structure was designed to transfer the weight of the masts to the ground. We also designed a special H-bracket to tie the MASTCLIMBERS onto the gas holder without damaging the structure.
This is one of a number of term maintenance contracts which involves call outs and shut downs either planned or emergency.
