John Sutch Cranes has carried out the final lifts at Manchester Town Hall, closing out a job it has been part of since day one.
The company’s 300-tonne Grove GMK6300L-1 returned to Albert Square as the scaffolding came down and the clock tower came back into view, supporting the closing stages of one of the city’s biggest heritage restorations.
Over the life of the project, the John Sutch team has lifted the building’s stained glass windows, put the scaffolding up and taken it back down again, and handled the final pieces as the job closes out.
The site left no room for error. The Town Hall is Grade I listed, the Albert Memorial stands on one side and the public pass by on the other. Every lift was planned in detail before the crane arrived, and the job has been delivered without a slip from start to finish.
Philip Miller, Technical Sales Representative at John Sutch Cranes, said: “You don’t get many jobs like this in a career. We’ve been lifting at Manchester Town Hall since the start, from the stained glass to the scaffolding, and now we’re doing the final lifts as the building is handed back to the city.
“On a Grade I listed building in the middle of Albert Square, every lift is planned in detail before the crane even arrives. For a business with a depot in Manchester, being part of this from start to finish means a lot to the whole team.”
John Sutch Cranes has worked alongside the Tier 1 contractor team throughout the project. The firm’s operators have been back on site many times over the course of the restoration, and the job carries extra weight for a business whose Manchester depot is only a short drive from Albert Square.
