Hire solution to glass lifting challenge

Hire equipment specialist, Kennards Lift & Shift, provided an innovative solution for a difficult glass roof installation.

Conservatory Construction Company, which has operated for more than 25 years in South Australia and Victoria, needed to lift glass roof panels, 4.7m x 0.8m, and tilt them to 40 degrees for installation.

Conventional glass lifters were ruled out because the glass was so long and thin. The pads would not have been narrow enough, or there would have been too much of an overhang, possibly causing the glass to flex and crack.

Kennards Lift & Shift in Adelaide came up with the idea of using two recently-introduced, 320kg vacuum glass lifters in tandem. These units each have four pads in a line, and are perfect for long thin panels.

One would not have been sufficient as still there would have been too much overhang, so a second unit was brought from the Kennards Lift & Shift hire centre in Melbourne.

Joined with the help of a spreader beam, the units provided a single lifting point of 635kg capacity. Using the crane’s two lifting hooks, the glass was lifted, tilted and installed with perfect control.

“The job went like clockwork,” said Paul Orechow, who operates Conservatory Construction Company in Adelaide. “It was probably the only way we could have done it with such accuracy and safety.”

Kennards Lift & Shift hires a range of glass lifters from its outlets in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.