Brief
We were contacted by a regional electricity company after a fault on an overhead powerline had caused live apparatus to come disconnected to the network which had resulted in an electricity pole being severely burnt.
Due to the height of the overhead powerlines, they asked for rental of a 20 meter off road MEWP with some urgency as the town of Faversham in Kent was dependant on this overhead powerline which was on the verge of collapse.
Strategy & Execution
We recommended to the client a Unimog U500 with a Versalift VST6000i, as this was an insulated MEWP with extreme off road ability that would allow the work entailed to be done safely and efficiently. As the client also needed an operator, we were able to mobilise and have the vehicle onsite for work in the morning the next day.
Due to the sensitivity of this electricity network, a temporary line was built adjacent to the overhead line, this allowed the current infrastructure to be turned off with no electricity flow. Our Unimog was then used to remove all the parts of the overhead powerline and remove the pole, so that a new one could be put back in its place. Once in place the Unimog was used once again to reconnect the overhead line to the new pole and the electricity network was established to its normal state.