Not only would we need to get the tanks into the treatment plant but also the HIAB-type crane lorry we would be using to offload and position the tanks.

Advance planning was critical as we had to arrange special police permission to work on the highway with the road partially closed for a short while.  We also had to arrange for pruning of trees and bushes overhanging the narrow road!  So it was vitally important to write our method statements early, in time not only for our client and the site’s health and safety officers to approve them but also for the Highways and Police authorities to comment and suggest changes in advance.

We arranged for the tanks to be delivered to the general area on a conventional low loader.  In a nearby lay by, off the main A road, they were transferred by crane to a very low ground clearance double axle trailer (modified in the JWI workshop) to allow the tanks to be taken up the narrow access lane.

Once on site the tanks were offloaded from the trailer and installed into a bunded area by our machinery movement team.  To achieve this we used chain blocks from the roof beam and the HIAB type lorry to top and tail each tank into a vertical position and move it over a 1200mm bund wall to its final position.  Advance planning had ensured the roof beam, to which the chain blocks were attached, would take our maximum loading.

A difficult and interesting project, which our clients had been told by their own surveyors could not be done because of the access problems, was completed to plan, in time and to budget. We accomplished the “impossible” using our experience and planning skills.