Cantilever Racks ~ Cold Shearing
200,000 Square Foot Warehouse Clearance – Cantilever Racking

Large Scale Warehouse Clearance

Our Major Projects Unit was asked to tender proposals for emptying a large warehouse complex of a Cantilever Racks Installation. The client consulted with us over a period several months. Over this time, the project was detailed and a formal plan developed.

Strategic Planning
7 Metre High Cantilver Racks
7 Metre High Cantilver Racks

The strategy had to to deliver the primary objective, of clearing the site safely by a given date. It had to also fit around a phased dilapidation scheme.

The plan had to be flexible enough, to allow the client to remove several thousand tons of strip product. And also the very equipment it was stored upon.

Operationally, this created great potential difficulties. However in conjunction with our project planning team, the works were carried out in specific time slots. This included multiple shifts, nights and weekends where required.

The Installation spanned nearly 200,000 square feet of high bay warehousing and several acres of yard area. It weighed in at over a thousand tons. The installation primarily comprised of specialised cantilever racking by industry leader, Stakapal. Most of it being over 7 metres in height. The project was planned with the aid of our warehouse equipment specialists. It incorporated both machine led deconstruction and operative based technical dismantling. The entire scheme took around 10 weeks to complete and over 90 hours to plan and document.

The project was completed on time and without issue.

Interesting Facts……

Some interesting fact about cantilever racking. It is,  incredibly expensive to purchase new. It is also one of the most unstable and difficult types of storage equipment to manage safely when being set up or  being taken down. Once an upright is unfastened from the ground and its partnering upright, a breeze of air or a substantial vibration can cause it to fall over.

2 Compact Excavators Equipped with Cold Shears and 23000KG Fuchs with Grapple Attachment were Deployed
2 x 20,000 KG Compact Excavators Equipped with Cold Shears and a 23000 KG Fuchs with Grapple Attachment were Deployed

Some may ask, “why not leave the ground fixings in when cutting down ” ? And its a fair question. Answer…., the huge pressures generated by our plant, especially the cutting shears risk lifting the floor up with the equipment if still affixed to the ground. Warehouse floors of this type are very expensive to fix.

Managing The Risks

At over 7 metres high and with larger uprights weighing in at up to a fifth of a metric ton each, any potential incident is not something to be taken lightly. Our project planner definitely did not take it lightly. This meant a machine based approach for the larger part of the operation, removing men from the work face and the risk of injury from falling metal.

Where this was not possible, specialised technical dismantling teams were deployed removing the installation piece by piece using platform lifts. All uprights removed in this way were attached to a crane by chain, in order to be safely lowered to ground.

Project Closing Stages ~ Site Clearance Almost Complete
Project Closing Stages ~ Site Clearance Almost Complete