Cardinal Place

Street CraneXpress were recently commissioned to design and supply the external façade access and maintenance equipment to clean and service the external envelope of Cardinal Place in the centre of London.

This exciting redevelopment has been designed by EPR Architects and will comprise of 46,920 sq m of office space divided between two buildings and 12,450 sq m of retail and restaurant accommodation. The first building, fronting onto Victoria Street, will consist of 37,160 sq m net of offices and will feature a large concourse at first floor level, which will be used to provide additional retail kiosks. The second building facing Palace Street will contain 9,750 sq m net of office space.

The site is split into two main areas each requiring it's own bespoke access equipment. The first section on Building 1A was installed in April this year and required a 200 tonne crane and the closure of Victoria Street, London to install it.

The access equipment required for Building 1A comprised of a roof mounted power trolley complete with telescopic jib and suspended platform traversing on a twin rail. The trolley chassis frame has four wheel units mounted at each corner; the rear wheel units are free running and the two front wheel units are driven by electric motor gear reducers complete with electro-magnetic brakes to ensure the machines stability even under high wind conditions. A mast that supports the telescopic jib was mounted on top of the parallelogram elevator, which in turn, was then mounted on the chassis to support, raise and lower the mast. This then becomes capable of raising the telescopic jib out of it's storage location, above the roof and into it's working position. The mast also incorporates a hydraulic ram to luff the telescopic jib over the sloping roof.

Building 1B will also require a roof mounted power trolley complete with telescopic jib and suspended platform, traversing on a twin rail system with a telescopic mast mounted on top of the chassis. The mast will be incorporated with a hydraulic ram to raise and lower the inner mast and use a power-slewing ring at the top, so that the jib and platform can be positioned around the perimeter of the building. The articulated levelling system is to maintain the correct mast vertical and jib horizontal positions at all times, especially when the machine is travelling up the inclined track.

Neither access system spoils the aesthetics of the buildings due to the specially designed garages with sliding louvre roof panels.

The project is due to be finished Summer 2005.