Ainscough makes Sellafield safer: tandem chimney lift lessons for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Removal of disused chimney stacks at Sellafield’s Fellside combined heat and power plant has been completed using a tandem lift by Ainscough Crane Hire as part of the site’s decommissioning and hazard reduction programme. A 300‑tonne Liebherr LTM1300‑6.3 acted as the main crane with a 130‑tonne LTM1130‑5.1 used first to install lifting gear, then to tail, rotate to horizontal and set down the stacks. Detailed lift planning and load calculations were required to avoid impact on adjacent nuclear containment structures in the highly regulated environment.
Technical Brief
- Controlled top-and-tail methodology was used to manage chimney rotation and maintain predictable load paths.
- Lift engineering focused on exclusion of swing or over‑slew into nuclear containment and adjacent critical infrastructure.
- Heavy Cranes Technical Manager oversight indicates formal internal technical authority sign‑off for the lift plan.
- Ainscough’s “Make the safe choice” behavioural framework underpinned task planning, calculations and on-site decision‑making.
- Similar nuclear decommissioning lifts will likely reference this type of tandem top‑and‑tail methodology for chimney removal.
Our Take
Ainscough Crane Hire’s recent results show a sharp squeeze on profit margins, so securing technically demanding work at Sellafield and the Fellside CHP plant likely helps underpin utilisation of its larger Liebherr units despite softer general construction demand.
The expanded Michelin Connected Solutions contract covering more than 350 Liebherr mobile cranes suggests that the 300‑t and 130‑t units deployed at Sellafield are now being managed under a fleet-wide tyre and telematics regime, which can materially reduce breakdown risk on safety‑critical nuclear infrastructure lifts.
Within our 799 Infrastructure stories, nuclear‑adjacent assets like Sellafield appear less frequently than transport or commercial schemes, so Ainscough’s presence here positions it in a smaller cohort of UK crane operators with demonstrable experience on high‑hazard, heavily regulated sites.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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