Paragon Steel Structures

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Nambiti Bridge

Paragon steel structures rigged and installed a new steel structure bridge within the Nambiti Private Game reserve. The new bridge replaced the original that was washed away in the devastating April floods.

The bridge is a three-piece structure, with each 12m section weighing in at just over 8 tons. Because of the size, two of the sections were assembled together on site. The double section created a 24m, 16.7-ton section on one side of the river bank. And the other single section was moved to the other side of the river.

The single-section steel structure was hoisted and bolted in place first and held firmly secure by the smaller 100t crane. Then the heavy double section was lifted using a 150t crane from Schoeman Crane Hire and slowly maneuvered across the river, docking into position with the awaiting single section on the other side.

The challenge with this steel structure installation was the distance the crane needed to stretch away from its centre of gravity carrying nearly 17 tons. This meant the calculations had to be perfect. Luckily the modern equipment used by Schoeman Crane Hire was able to calculate all this and stipulate the counterweights needed on the rear of the crane to balance the load.

With a lot of rigging costs involved and numerous teams doing their part, it was crucial that every detail was calculated, that everything went according to plan and that the installation was successful in one single attempt. Delaying the process in any way would incur major extra rigging expenses. So the project involved absolute precision engineering and fabrication to ensure all the angles lined up when the three sections were in their final positions. Ultimately this could not have been done without the accuracy of the design engineers at Vigar And Associates.

Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you with the challenging structural steel projects required to grow your business.