Special Weighing Platforms At Canary Wharf

Portable RoRo-Weigh platforms supplied by industrial weighing specialists Westco Bilanciai have been playing a small, yet vital, role during the development of London's Canary Wharf.

The special industrial platforms were incorporated as part of innovative waste recycling equipment developed by Leyton based Bywaters Limited for speeding up waste recycling during the construction of two 45 storey buildings in the heart of London's docklands, including the prestigious HSBC Tower at 8 Canada Square.

Family-run Bywaters have been providing recycling and waste management services to London and the South East area for over 50 years.

The company has over 200 employees and is the largest owner, operator and maintainer of dedicated compaction equipment in the London postal area.

Processing building waste during the construction and fit-out of multi storey buildings in confined spaces poses a tricky problem for companies like Canary Wharf Construction.

During the building of the 12 storey Citibank building, waste was brought down by hoist in 150 wheelie bins.

Analysis showed that this took up more than 12% of construction hoist working time.

When planning the 45 storey towers, it was clear that moving several hundred wheelie bins up and down from the floors would be impractical and the construction company turned to Bywaters' Amanda Brown for help.

Bywaters' Managing Director, John Glover realised that the only solution would be to use a chute system with entries at each floor.

However designing and building such a construction that would be robust enough and control the speed of waste, as it reached the bottom, needed more than a flash of inspiration.

Bywaters' solution involved a robust chute system, with two quadrant control gates and a lower deceleration zone.

This arrangement slowed down the material before it entered the compaction chamber and the waste could then be pushed into the closed container sitting on the weighing platform.

The RoRo-Weigh platforms are designed specifically to weigh 'roll-on roll-off' type waste containers during filling operations on site.

Their robust construction ensures these portable modules can withstand the arduous conditions found at waste sites, building sites and factories.

They are designed to have significant overload capability, in excess of their 30 tonne working capacity, and the steel deck is supported on four 25 tonne capacity load cells.

The units are fully portable and have lifting eyes on the side of the platforms.

Adjustable self-aligning pads attached to the load cells provide a secure base even on unlevelled ground.

The decks have guide rails along their 6.3 metre length and a 'V' shaped end locator.

This ensures the precise positioning of the containers as they are off-loaded and lined up with the compactors.

The wheels of the containers run along easily replaceable steel strips.

Weighing the containers provides vital information and ensures the containers are filled to their optimum 15 tonne capacity.

The type of waste materials from the 'fit out' process can vary from brick to cardboard.

Under-filled containers are uneconomical to remove, while over- weight ones mean that the waste vehicles are over their legal load limit.

In addition to the standard weigh display, each system is fitted with a klaxon, which sounds if containers continue to be loaded beyond their weight limit.

John Glover is delighted with the outcome of the project and as he explains: "Coming up with innovative solutions has been an essential part of our success.

Westco shared our drive for solving unusual problems and they worked closely with us to ensure the complete system worked successfully.

Knowing when the containers were full meant we could plan our collections with optimum efficiency, benefiting all parties concerned.

During their stay at Canary Wharf, the scales weighed hundreds of containers of waste and they are now being prepared for the next project." Westco Bilanciai is part of the renowned international Bilanciai Group based in Northern Italy.

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