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A sheet pile installation and ground engineering innovator, which has shaken up infrastructure widening by launching the world’s first long-reach rigs, is marking greatness, as well as a key anniversary, as it gives its two revolutionary rigs names rather than numbers.
Preston-based Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd is boxing clever, aptly naming its rigs – currently known as the TM 12/15 LR and the TM 20 LR – Primo and Sonny, after boxers, Primo Carnera and Sonny Liston. The two champs were renowned for the longest reaches in boxing, at 85” and 84” respectively.
The decision comes just ahead of the 50th anniversary of Sonny Liston’s death, on December 30. The boxer was one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, world champion in 1962 and the inaugural WBC champion at this weight in 1963.
Primo Carnera, known as the Gentle Giant, was simply a titan and both a European and world champion.
Sheet Piling UK’s sheet piling installation rigs are themselves ‘reach kings’, having an arm that extends a full three metres further than any other rig in the UK. The TM 12/15 LR was unique when equipped with a reach of 8.1 metres, in October 2018. Its sister rig, the TM 20 LR, has the same reach and arrived in late August 2020.
Primo translating as ‘first’ is also a highly appropriate name for the TM 12/15 – the first steel sheet piling rig of its kind in the world.
In smart motorway projects, the fact neither of these two heavyweight rigs needs to have a temporary platform built, to reach the line of sheet pile installation, delivers a gigantic average saving of £40,000-£60,000, per smart motorway Emergency Rescue Area, where a typical 100-metre sheet pile installation is required. They simply stand on existing infrastructure, reach out and install or extract piles. Current thinking is that such ERAs are required every mile or, ideally, every 0.75 miles, to enhance road safety.
The reach also means reduced construction traffic around infrastructure widening sites, so less traffic disturbance and fewer safety issues as vehicles enter and exit site. It speeds up schedules of work by months and enables less environmental and wildlife habitat damage, as vegetation clearance is minimised.
Sheet Piling UK’s managing director, Andrew Cotton, says: “We have been trying to pick suitable names for our rigs, since the TM 20 LR’s arrival. With the key Sonny Liston anniversary coming up, we thought it appropriate to name one after him, given his renowned reach. Primo Carnera had the longest reach of all boxers and with the TM 12/15 being the first sheet piling rig of its kind in the world, the name Primo was meant to be. Our rigs’ champion performance is all about their reach. More contractors should be putting them into the ring and enjoying the benefits.”
Unsurprisingly, Primo and Sonny do already have very full order books, for smart motorway and HS2 infrastructure widening projects UK-wide. Sheet Piling UK has the UK patent on their design, having conceived the idea of trying to create a heavyweight rig, with a massive reach but no topple, through expert counterbalancing. Both rigs were built by German-based ABI, to Sheet Piling UK’s specification, at a cost of over £1.2m each. Primo can install, drive and extract sheet piles up to 16 metres in length, whilst Sonny can handle those up to 20 metres long.
More information about the two rigs can be found at www.sheetpilinguk.com
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Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd is the UK's leading national sheet piling contractor and sheet pile installation specialist, with over 25 years' experience of handling a wide variety of land and marine-based projects. It supplies both permanent and temporary sheet pile solutions and has a fleet of cutting-edge equipment, including its unique and specially commissioned long-reach telescopic leader rigs, which have a reach 3m further than any other rig.