November 17 - UK helicopter service company Helirig managed to shave almost a month off the installation time of ventilation equipment on London's newest shopping destination in a first for the aerial heavylift industry in the UK.
Oxfordshire-based Helirig utilised a Swiss-registered Super Puma AS332 C1 helicopter with a lifting capacity of 4.5 tonnes to lift 100 tonnes of extractor fans to four different rooftops around the Olympic shopping centre in East London, the GBP1.5 billion development that forms the gateway to the 2012 Olympic Games.
The operation was undertaken on one day in early November and eliminated the requirement of using three large cranes, including potentially a 750 tonne capacity crane. In the process, at least three weeks of site disruption arising from the use of cranes was avoided, says Helirig.
