All along the watchtower
Let’s take you back to the tail end of 2025 and a project that presented unique challenges for the time of year.
Faced with a tight pre-Christmas deadline and midwinter coastal gales, we successfully completed the installation of the new Littlehampton Harbourmaster’s watchtower in collaboration with Landbuild.
Ground Protection & Logistics
To protect the site’s lawned areas, our hire installs team deployed TUFF TRAK ground protection, ensuring a stable, ‘no-bruise’ platform for all heavy plant and personnel. Due to the structure’s oversized dimensions, the project required specialist abload permits and escort vehicles to navigate the transport route.
Engineering & Lifting Solutions
The timber-clad and copper-roofed watchtower was a fine thing to look at, but it presented unique center-of-gravity challenges, as lifting points had not been integrated into the original design.
Our quick-thinking caps were needed, and the team swiftly engineered a solution:
Custom recovery beams: Fabricated to allow for the extraction of cross-beams from one side of the lift during Phase 1.
The big lift: Using our new 99 t/m FASSI crane to reattach at the exact point of balance for final positioning.
Sequential jacking: We developed a bespoke scheme to jack the pavilion and remove packing shims, ensuring a precision seat onto the tower base.
Despite an 8pm finish and the shortest daylight hours of the year, our team’s resourcefulness ensured the ‘battle’ was won before the holiday break.
Photos courtesy of Ryan Russel, Connel Preston, Carl Somner and Wayne McKinder.
