Contractor organises a giant lift in Birmingham’s Smallbrook Queensway
Road closed — this was the scene in the centre of Birmingham in the small hours of a Sunday morning as the four Mitsubishi outdoor units to serve a new air-conditioning system in the 20-storey offices of Ofwat were craned into position.
One of Europe’s largest mobile cranes was called in when the complexity of installing rooftop equipment for the air-conditioning system installed as part of the refurbishment of Ofwat’s Birmingham headquarters became apparent. McDowall Air Conditioning chose Mitsubishi City Multi VRF equipment for the project for its ease of installation and design, coupled with reliability and high performance. The 20-storey building dates from the early 1970s is on the busy Smallbrook Queensway in Birmingham City Centre, and the road had to be closed for the lift. David Pugh of McDowall, explains, ‘The only time we could feasibly look at doing this was on a Sunday night. Even then, we had a strict time limit, as the crane had to be dismantled and out of the way before the Monday morning rush hour began.’ Four City Multi outdoor units were lifted onto the roof in the operation. David McDowall adds, ‘We did have to keep an eye on the weather, as the crane would automatically shut down if the wind speed exceeded 16 mph, with serious financial and programme implications.’
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