Hird Group power helps create a Solar Gate for Hull
Hird Group has helped lift Hull’s spectacular new Solar Gate into position
The 10-metre high steel sculpture was lifting into place as the sun rose over Queens Gardens in Hull city centre.
It is one of a series of developments being overseen by Hull City Council in a £25m plan to revitalise the city centre.
The Solar Gate is also a lasting legacy of Hull’s tenure during 2017 as the UK’s City of Culture.
Hird Group was called upon by the Strata Group in an operation that took two hours to complete, Hird Group, which is based in Hull, East Yorkshire, carried out a tandem lift using mobile cranes.
Both cranes were used to lift the sculpture from the back of a flat-bed lorry. Then a Grove GMK 3050 50-tonne mobile crane was used to lift the Solar Gate into position.
Hird also supplied a Manitou 180AJ articulated boom to allow contractors that created the Solar Gate to work on it during the lift.
The white sculpture, made from stainless steel, is designed to throw light from the sun across a shaded area of the park.
Acting like a sundial, it will allow light to shine through it onto 24 key historical dates engraved in the ground around it.
The structure will also be lit within so it can also be enjoyed at night.
Picture: Hull Daily Mail
The Solar Gate has been commissioned by architectural practice Tonkin Liu from public realm designers Re-Form as part of the city council’s public realm programme.
It was built by Hull-based engineering company Strata Holdings, using unique techniques devised specifically to create the structure.
Picture: Hull Daily Mail
Hird Group provides a contract lifting service, along with a full range of lifting equipment, for all lifting projects.
It has supplied lifting and access equipment and expertise needed to create other sculptures and art installations related to Hull City of Culture.
These have included the Weeping Window sculpture at the Hull Maritime Museum and the memorial to Hull’s lost trawlermen.
For more information about Hird Group, and lifting equipment hire, including mini cranes, mobile cranes, spider cranes, and powered access equipment, call 01482 227333.