AFI-Uplift provides Niftylifts for Tower Bridge maintenance

Four boom lifts from the fleet of UK rental company AFI-Uplift were hired by contractors working on London's Tower Bridge.

Pyeroy Limited's Special Projects Division used four AFI Niftylift booms to apply a protective paint coating to Tower Bridge as part of the fourth and final stage of a three-year maintenance contract.

The road across Tower Bridge was closed to traffic each night to enable Pyeroy to paint underneath the arches of the North and South towers. AFI specified the Niftylift HR12 boom for the protective coating work because weight and size were important considerations - when the machines were not in use they were stowed on the bridge's pedestrian footpath, which also had weight and width restrictions.

Weighing 3330kg and 1.60m wide, the HR12 boom has a working height of 12.2m.

Pyeroy Infra-structure Services Director Brendan Fitzsimons said, "We used the AFI boom lifts on Tower Bridge to remove old paint and apply a protective coating. They gave our contractors the reach necessary to work safely and efficiently on the arches of the bridge."

Tower Bridge was built in 1894 and took eight years to complete. It involved five major contractors, 432 construction workers and over 11000t of steel to provide the framework for the towers and walkways.