Following a significant run of customer orders in the second quarter of 2015, Granada have had a very busy summer. Maintaining tight installation windows, Granada have been working with partners SWF to ensure timely delivery of a range of cranes, including:

– 2 x 33m Span 5te Double Girder Crane
– 1 x 10te Double Girder Crane (pictured)
– 1 x 5te Monorail System (pictured)
– 1 x 20te Double Girder Crane
– 1 x 2te + 2te Single Girder Crane
– 2 x 5te Single Girder Cranes
– 1 x 5te + 5te Goliath Crane

In parallel, the Site Services teams have been installing these cranes, while looking after Granada’s customer needs on a day-to-day basis. In addition, Granada have had a good campaign of commissioning Davit Cranes on the Greater Gabbard Wind Farm, where Granada were chosen by GGOWL to manufacture, deliver and commission 140 replacement crane units. Granada continue to look after all the Davits on the Gwynt Y Mor Offshore Wind Farm, as part of the three year contract awarded earlier this year.

Looking forward to the final quarter of 2015, production of the 67 Davits for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is progressing well, with phased delivery anticipated to start soon. This is the second contract awarded to Granada for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. As Mark Sidwell, Director at Granada, commented,

“This confirms Granada as the UK’s leading offshore wind farm davit crane supplier, and is testament to the dedication and expertise of the Granada Renewable product and service division.”

After 4 years in the Duke of Lancaster’s First Battalion, Simon Rushton and Ryan Walker were each offered apprenticeships by Granada, where they’ve been training and working as service engineers, both on- and offshore. Granada supports them, fully-funding their 3-year college course and NVQ, and with extensive on-the-job mentoring and training.

Simon joined Granada 4 years ago, and completed his NVQ this month, and Ryan has just finished his first year at college. Both are ex-infantrymen, having spent 4 years in the army and, though they didn’t know each other at the time, they served on the same 7-month tour of Afghanistan in 2010.

Army training and tours are clearly an ideal preparation for life as a Granada service engineer, including 7 months training at the Army’s Infantry Training Centre in Catterick. As Simon explains, when asked about the weather conditions that Granada’s offshore engineers deal with, ‘In the army, you’re used to being in countries that get 10 times hotter and 10 times colder.’ Ryan added, ‘Attitude’s a big thing – we’re used to it.’

Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm has awarded a three year contract to Granada Material Handling to provide specialist offshore personnel to look after, maintain and re-certify 160 crane units on its offshore turbines.

Each of the Granada ‘Python’ crane units was specifically designed for Gwynt y Môr, with one ‘Python’ crane unit fitted to each of the 160 transition pieces.

The scope of the contract is not limited to the cranes but also includes checks on climbing safety systems, complete tower inspections and onshore activities to assist with the safe running of the wind farm.

Granada employs 100 people across three sites in the UK and, for Gwynt y Môr, a local team will be based at the Port of Mostyn and will carry out daily maintenance trips offshore.

Gwynt y Môr’s Operations and Maintenance Manager, John Porter said: “Granada and their team have proved themselves an effective partner during the construction of Gwynt y Môr and we are delighted to secure their expertise and knowledge of the offshore site going forward into operations.”

Mark Sidwell, Director of Granada Material Handling Ltd, added: “We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this prestigious UK wind farm contract. The Granada team are pleased to continue providing support now that the wind farm has moved into its operational phase.”

At up to 576MW, Gwynt y Môr is the world’s second largest operating offshore wind farm and is a shared investment between partners RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München GmbH and Siemens. Once fully operational, energy generation from Gwynt y Môr is expected to be equivalent to the average annual needs of around 400,000 homes – around a third of the total number of homes in Wales.

Granada Material Handling has been awarded a second major contract for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm.

Dutch manufacturer Smulders Projects has awarded Granada the contract to design, supply, third party certify, deliver, and commission 67 individual crane units for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. These are ‘Python’ crane units that have been specifically designed by Granada for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm and its challenging marine environment.

Each Python crane unit measures approximately 4 meters in height, 3.3 meters in radius, and weighs 1300kgs. The maximum lifting capacity of 1000kgs is needed to hoist the heavier serviceable components from the supply vessel to the laydown area on the platforms of the transition piece platform. One ‘Python’ crane unit will be fitted to each of the 67 transition piece platforms.

Mark Sidwell, director of Granada Material Handling Ltd, commented:

“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded a second contract for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, following the contract from Sembmarine earlier this year. This substantial contract award from Smulers Projects confirms Granada as the UK’s leading offshore wind farm davit crane supplier, and is testament to the dedication and expertise of the Granada Renewable product and service division.”

Granada is already looking to place orders and sub-contract specialist areas of work to other UK businesses, and will deliver the crane units over an 8 month period.

Sembmarine SLP has awarded Granada the contract to design, supply, third party certify, deliver and commission 2 davit crane units for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Siemens Transmission and Distribution Platform.

Each of the Granada Python crane units has been specifically designed for the Dudgeon offshore wind farm and the challenging marine environment in which they will operate. Two Python crane units will be fitted to the cable deck area of the distribution platform. Each crane unit measures approximately 4 meters in height, 4 meters in radius, and weighs 1000kgs. The maximum lifting capacity of 1000kgs is needed to hoist the heavier serviceable components from the supply vessel to the laydown area on the platforms of the transmission platform. The crane units have been specifically designed with an emphasis on health & safety and the operator’s needs, and are a design unique to Granada Material Handling.

Mark Sidwell, Director of Granada Material Handling Ltd, commented:

“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded another prestigious UK wind farm project. Securing this contract has been a real team effort by the Granada Renewable product and service division. The Dudgeon contract is not only great news for Granada but also for our North West based supply chain. Granada has ambitious plans for this market sector and is the UK’s leading offshore wind farm davit crane supplier. We are currently working with designers, wind farm developers and turbine manufacturers to further enhance the product range to ensure the very latest developments in lifting technology are made available to the rapidly expanding and ever developing offshore renewable market.” 

Granada is already looking to place orders and sub-contract specialist areas of work to other UK businesses, and will deliver the crane units over a 6 month period.

With a complete focus on safety, reliability and efficiency, and the result of over two years’ development and partnership with Siemens, Granada Material Handling offers world-leading technology for the offshore wind turbine sector.

There are few applications as demanding as offshore work, and wind turbine servicing is a rapidly growing area with its own unique set of challenges. Lifting heavy equipment from a boat to a stationary platform is tricky, to say the least. One rogue wave and everything being lifted could crash through the boat deck, endangering lives at sea.

As a leading specialist in offshore lift equipment, Granada continually reviews options and developments for the wind turbine sector. Finding Siemens to be the perfect partner for its demanding sea operations serving the growing number of offshore wind turbines around the UK coast, Granada decided on a redesign from the ground up, to provide customers with a tailor-made solution.

The resulting Granada foundation davit sits on a wind turbine platform, part-way up at the base of the blade tips, on the access platform which is permanently in place. The crucial factor is that the unit, when lifting loads varying from maintenance kits to tool bags, must align itself to the position of the boat, which is semi-moored to the turbine base, and must not allow the load being lifted to lower back into the moving boat deck at any point in the unloading process – especially if the boat breaks free from its moorings for any reason.

With engineering excellence and ground-breaking software, Granada’s individual approach to servicing sets new standards for efficiency and safety, both onshore and offshore.

Granada takes a unique approach to servicing – combining a personal approach, where our engineers work directly with our clients, with our own custom-designed DATAHUB software, exclusive to Granada.

Our engineers receive individual notification of clients’ servicing requirements direct to their PDAs. In addition to talking to the customer, our engineers always seek feedback from the equipment operators. Site assessments and risk assessments are, again, carried out on the individual engineer’s PDA. Granada engineers carry out their own quotations, sent directly to the client, with jobs scheduled and parts ordered in the most simple, efficient manner. This personal approach to all aspects of the servicing cycle eliminates confusion during the quotation stage, as well as speeding up quotation to repair.

Throughout the servicing process, the use of Granada’s DATAHUB ensures both efficient and secure access to all servicing and safety data. Accessed through a web portal, DATAHUB provides clients with at-a-glance information on all servicing needs and legal requirements, including LOLER and PUWER examination, automatically generating the correct documentation.

As well as investing in technology to meet the needs of lifting equipment management and safety, Granada recognise that our engineers are our most important asset – all are subject to our 6-monthly training needs analysis, and all have LEEA Team Cards. This dual approach, of engineering excellence and ground-breaking software, keeps Granada at the very forefront of technological change and management effectiveness.

Granada has recently installed a bespoke vacuum lifting system to assist with the loading of plastic pellets from 25kgs sacks into a hopper. The system was designed to operate over a mezzanine floor area. This meant that Granada had to design and install a free standing jib crane to ensure enough height was allowed for the sack to be emptied.

Alongside bespoke design and installation, Granada offer clients the options of both on- and off-site training for all vacuum lifting equipment, either at their own premises, or at our new customer service facility.

Recently installed at a food processing plant, VacuQuicklift, Granada’s new Vacuum Tube lifter, combines a range of advantages that make it perfect for many sectors. With just one operating handle all the functions of engagement, lifting, lowering, and release can be easily and accurately controlled.

With its unique “Quick-Release-System”, the VacuQuicklift lifts automatically when released with no need for tilting. This makes it incredibly quick and guarantees the shortest cycle times – ideal if boxes, containers or crates have to be commissioned or re-stacked.

The Tube lifter VacuQuicklift is available in two designs, one for strictly horizontal applications and one with a swivel feature that allows the lift to manually tip over workpieces. In both cases the VacuQuicklift is controlled with one control handle, so the lift operator is easily able to bring loads into the target position with their free hand. Thus, Granada’sVacuQuicklift makes lifting tasks easier, while improving workplace safety through its simple and ergonomical design and operation.

Granada are pleased to announce the opening of a new dedicated Site Services Division.

This specialist facility is a new centre for installation, servicing and inspection, with enhanced space for spares’ storage. As a new training division, it provides a dedicated facility for Granada customers for equipment training, both electrical and mechanical, and bespoke packages for clients. Full audiovisual facilities ensure comprehensive and thorough training.

Further details about our on and offshore services, including inspection, repair and training, are available from our dedicated electrical and mechanical specialist service team: 01706 355455.