Skip to main content

Refurbishing Heathrow road tunnel

A Positioner-Actuator-Manipulator (PAM)machine on hire from UK dealer STM of Tring has been able to cut concrete removal time for Bam Nuttall on its €116.2 million tunnel refurbishment contract at Heathrow Airport. The 18-month contract involves major work on the main and cargo tunnels serving Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in order to comply with the latest European standards and also to extend the life of the tunnels for a further 60 years. As part of the project, some 206m2 of concrete repairs were needed to be
December 11, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The Canadian built PAM unit was used for the Heathrow Tunnel refurbishment
A Positioner-Actuator-Manipulator (PAM)machine on hire from UK dealer STM of Tring has been able to cut concrete removal time for 3137 Bam Nuttall on its €116.2 million tunnel refurbishment contract at Heathrow Airport. The 18-month contract involves major work on the main and cargo tunnels serving Terminals 1, 2 and 3 in order to comply with the latest European standards and also to extend the life of the tunnels for a further 60 years.

As part of the project, some 206m2 of concrete repairs were needed to be carried out. Bam Nuttall opted to use the Canadian built PAM unit, which allowed work to continue throughout the 10.30 pm to 5.30 am possession time. The breaker is firmly secured to an air-over-hydraulic powered two-piece arm, which isolates vibration from the PAM's controls. The unit is mounted on four castors or removable road wheels and can be pushed into position prior to applying the brake and deploying outrigger legs for stability during operation. Weighing only 525kg without a tool in place, the machine can be easily transported in a conventional van.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Major innovations are coming to market in concrete slipforming
    March 6, 2017
    Tough competition is being seen in the specialised market for concrete slipforming machines, with new partnerships and new technology coming to market - Mike Woof writes GOMACO is boosting the versatility of its Commander slipformer further with the development of the new Three-Track Commander IIIx variant. This has been configured to cope with much tighter radii than previous versions of the Commander III, allowing it to slipform a radius of just 610mm. This suits the machine to applications such as sli
  • Advances in tunneling machines coming to market
    November 19, 2015
    A diverse array of new tunnelling technologies will help boost productivity and cut project costs, while boosting quality - Mike Woof writes The worldwide market for tunnelling projects continues to be strong, with a series of major projects underway or planned for the future. These good market conditions have helped fuel research and development in new tunnelling equipment, designed to be more productive, more efficient and more reliable and able to deliver a higher quality of work. Drilling and blas
  • Korean bridge construction poses challenges
    February 23, 2012
    On South Korea's southern coast, an innovative highway sea crossing is providing many engineering challenges
  • Korean bridge construction poses challenges
    April 5, 2012
    On South Korea's southern coast, an innovative highway sea crossing is providing many engineering challenges The new Busan-Geoje crosses from South Korea's second city to its biggest island and is slightly shorter than the 12km of the country's famous Incheon project. In addition the main cable stay bridge for the Busan-Geoje project has a 475m span rather than the 800m of the Incheon central span. However the 8.2km Busan-Geoje project faces perhaps greater technical challenges and also includes a second b