An 8m diameter, 32 tonne capacity, vehicle access turntable, designed and manufactured by Movetech UK has recently been unveiled, and is undoubtedly going to revolutionise the construction site industry.
This innovation has been in development for several years with Movetech UK’s technical team focused on designing a solution for construction sites where space is limited and handling the hundreds of vehicles required to keep the site running smoothly is both a logistical and a safety challenge.
Craig Wright, Movetech UK’s Technical Sales Director explains more: “The concept derived off the back of many enquiries over the last few years with a high-demand for an industrial type of turntable for temporary use, but with a few key differences to our typical truck turntable solution offerings.”
The same questions and requirements where being asked repeatedly, all of which we could happily help with by implementing a typical fully circular and flush-fitting turntable which usually incurs a 5-to-6-month lead time from consultation to completion. But with many enquiries demanding tight timeframes and temporary use, we were unable to fully offer an accessible off-the-shelf ‘we need it next week for a few months’ type solution.”
“I sensed we urgently needed to come up with a solution, we are the market leaders when it comes to truck turntables, we are the experts,” added Craig. “So, we 100% needed to design a turntable that was strong, rigid and could be installed easily, in very limited space, and was readily available on a long or short-term rental basis, or to even purchase.”
We completely understand construction site turnaround times are fast paced to keep up with the ever-flowing demand of on-site deliveries, and by installing a construction site turntable we can also significantly reduce dangerous reversing manoeuvres in what can already be a hazardous environment, helping to improve upon already vigorous health and safety measures.”
Therefore, we designed and manufactured a concept turntable, thoroughly tested it, and now we have a new vehicle turntable to add to our ever-growing portfolio of movement solutions – it ticks all the boxes, and can be delivered to a site, as quickly as tomorrow if required. Problem solved!”
The concept becoming a reality also somewhat hails from the success of a project the company was recently involved in too. A large-scale development at the core of London’s King’s Cross district – positioned adjacent to the extremely busy King’s Cross station, which proved to be very problematic for the sites management team.
Due to the location, and the long and narrow architectural footprint of the construction area, it left very little room for deliveries to and from the site, therefore a traffic management plan had to be devised to find a suitable solution to comply with regulations, allowing the delivery trucks to enter and exit the construction site safely, in a forward gear.
When the development contractors approached Movetech UK to potentially install an on-site truck turntable, they suggested the turntable should be installed in a pit, however after working closely with their project team, Movetech UK eventually came up with an above-floor option. This option removed the need for costly on-site preparations and meant that when the turntable was eventually removed, there were no pit to fill – and albeit not the process a turntable would usually be installed, it worked, and it was successful.
Movetech UK have manufactured and installed many Ø15m units for HGVs and trucks over the years, but this was the first temporary unit for a construction site they are aware of in the UK, and undoubtedly supported the idea and concept process of the new construction site turntable.
The new construction site turntable allows the vehicle to drive on to the turntable platform using the robust galvanised steel ramps with a maximum turntable capacity of up to 32 tonnes. It is suitable for up to 4-axle rigid vehicles such as tippers and muck-aways, with a maximum wheelbase of 6.5m and 2.5m width across tyres. The unit also offers galvanised steel guide bars, mounted along the edges of the turntable and ramps, permitting additional safety, and control.
Once parked, the vehicle is rotated at approximately 0.4rpm in the smallest space possible with momentary buttons on the remote operator station. This allows a 180-degree turn to be completed in approximately 75 seconds.
The turntable platform rotates 180-degrees to align with the ramps, to allow the vehicle to drive off in a forward gear. At only 3kW to rotate 32 tonnes and require a standard 32amp 415v supply, the turntable is relatively low power.
The length of the turntable platform is 8m with a width of 2.84m and a heigh of 0.9m. The total space required including the ramps is approximately 15x10m – with the design allowing the turntable to be quite easily moved to a new position in around 1-2 days.
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If you would like more information or to take advantage of what will no doubt become a very popular unit, get in touch with Movetech UK’s sales and technical teams today, and they will be more than happy to help with any questions you may have. Tel: +44 (0)1204 525626, Email: info@movetechuk.com.
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The video clips and images included in this article were taken at a secure location, for testing and marketing purposes, by Movetech UK – British Turntable Co Limited. With a special thanks to Armstrongs Group (Bolton).
