Reaching the heights in building maintenance

OCS Engineering has been commissioned to produce its biggest ever fully-powered building maintenance unit.

OCS Engineering - a division of the GBP600 million OCS property support services group - has been commissioned to produce its biggest ever fully-powered building maintenance unit (BMU) as part of a contract for four units for London's latest high rise tower in the financial heart of the City.

The project, managed by Stanhope plc is part of the construction of the Willis Building at 51 Lime Street, a 29 storey complex of contemporary design by architects Foster and Partners on the site of the original 1958 Lloyds building.

Reflecting the historic importance of the site in the financial world, it will provide 475,000 square feet of world class office accommodation for the Willis Group, one of the world's leading risk management and insurance intermediaries.

In addition, it will incorporate a striking new public plaza at street level with retail, restaurants and wine bar facilities.

The two main towers of the building, for which construction began in January 2005, will rely on the new BMU's for external maintenance and inspection.

According to Richard Burl, managing director of OCS Engineering, the cradle runway units will bring state-of - the-art control technologies to the complex tasks involved in maintaining such a building.

"The largest BMU of the four in this contract will have one of the longest reach jibs in London, with the jib alone weighing 11.5 tonnes".

"It will be controlled by leading edge plc 'soft-start' inverter drives to bring smooth and safe operation to all main functions including hoisting".

"Most importantly it is British made through-and-through, in spite of massive international competition in this sector".

The largest BMU, for the main tower, is a static machine with a two stage, three-part telescopic jib extending 25 metres.

The controlled hoisting approach is unusual in the industry and when used with such a long jib will bring significant advantages such as smooth stopping and starting as well as fine control over direction changes.

This will bring added user confidence and exceptional ride comfort for the operators of the unit as they use the cradle runway to carry out a wide range of tasks from cleaning the building exterior to ongoing inspection, maintenance and repair.

Andrew Highton, Stanhope plc explained "OCS Engineering were involved from the outset in helping determine the optimum solution for gaining access to the complex group of buildings in the 51 Lime Street development".

"This early input helped ensure that the initial investment in the design and installation of high specification BMU's will provide longer-term payback in terms of cost-efficiencies in building maintenance".

Commenting on the contract, OCS chief executive Chris Cracknell said, "The City of London has long been a world finance centre but in recent years its new and innovative architecture has reflected this dominant role in the global economy".

"This new approach to building design has brought its own challenges and, in line with our group philosophy, I am delighted to see OCS harnessing new technologies to play its own part in meeting this challenge.

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