Cardiff, United Kingdom - An important key activity has been reached on the A465 Heads of the Valleys project Structure S02 by Victor Buyck for its client Costain. Previous weekend Victor Buyck Steel Construction - or Rhybudd Dur in Welsh- started installing the northern arch elements into their final position. Tuesday night the operation was successfully completed.

After delivery of the arch elements in October Victor Buyck operators have been assembling and welding two large arch elements on the northern preassembly terrain in Brynmawr (Wales). This week the preparation process has been successfully completed by the installation of two large arch elements from the northern preassembly area to its final position on the trestle towers and arch base.

To lift these elements into position Sarens UK rigged the AK680 rigged on site. Sunday morning the first element could be lifted into position, requiring the 140T arch element to be lifted at a 47m radius. This operation required a superlift of 300T. Weather was not on our side as snow and cold were the conditions of the day. The lift started at 10am, by 1pm the arch was in its place and by 4pm the element was fixed onto its trestle towers.

After the first installation the weather worsened with severe gust winds, making further installation in a safe way impossible. It took until Tuesday night until the severe gust winds calmed down and the second arch element could be installed safely. The second lift was the most critical one: lifting 132T at 70m with a superlift of 500T. The lift started at 10pm. By 12pm the arch was in its place and by 3am the crane hook could be released. The road could be opened again on 6am.

The major difficulties during this operation were: the limited space at the preassembly terrain to position the crane, the arch elements and all aiding equipment; the limited time of the closures during which the arch can be lifted into position and secured and the exposed location of the bridge in the valley as the A465 underneath the bridge remains functional during construction. Good collaboration between Victor Buyck, the Main Contractor Costain and Sarens UK made these lifts a success.

Currently the AK680 is being relocated to the South side to lift the two remaining arch elements and complete the arch shape.