The Problem
When principle contractor on Birmingham’s new Snow Hill Plaza building needed temporary heating they called Watkins Hire Ltd to survey for temporary heating. They required a temporary heating system to assist in the project during the extreme weather experienced in early 2009. The site had got cold during the Christmas shut down and they needed to boost the temperature to bring the project back on schedule.
500kw High capacity heater hire unit
The Solution
While the survey was being undertaken it was clear that space was an issue. Although the client needed approximately 400Kw of heat the space was not available to site lots of heaters around the site. Also the client had the problem of moving and storing fuel to run the equipment. A single KwikHEAT® MH500 Indirect fired heater was specified along with a FuelPAK® 6500 litre bunded fuel tank. The high capacity heater was used to save space on the site, along with return air ducting this unit would be more than capable of achieving the environment required to allow the works to continue
Specialist Hire Manager Chris Easterlow said
“The client had used us before on other projects so we had proved our capabilities before. They called us in an emergency and we responded, I was on site within 2 hours of the call and the client had their quote the same afternoon. It was a large project right in the centre of Birmingham and the building required immediate attention. I realized that smaller heaters were not going to be suitable as the site was constricted and the positioning of equipment was critical so we did not impede the site further. The heater was positioned at the end of the building and access was provided by the client for the flexible ducting. Access was also given for return air ducting that allowed us to re-circulate the warmer air from inside the building to keep the structure at a higher temperature rather than taking freezing air from outside as the external air was below 0° Celsius for most of the time the equipment was on site. The added bonus of using return air ducting was that the client saved approximately 30% of the cost of the fuel.”
The Client said
“We were amazed when we called Watkins Hire Ltd and the representative visited our site almost immediately. He advised us on the best course of action to allow un to catch up and prevent falling further behind schedule The quote was received the same afternoon and because of the advise given, the system proposed and the pricing structure we had no hesitation in placing the order the same day. The equipment arrived on site as planned along with the engineers to commission and get us operational. A truly professional service and we will not hesitate to use Watkins Hire again when the situation requires.
The equipment supplied surpassed all expectations and actually assisted us to get ahead on some aspects of the build; we never expected the results we got. In the coldest period in 18 years to be able to carry on working to plan inside our site is truly amazing, as well as serving its purpose our contractors are working without their jackets on as the temperature is really nice inside the building!”
Summary
Watkins hire provided piece of mind and support to the construction site manager ensuring fuel supplies were constantly monitored, by providing a web based fuel monitoring telemetry system which monitored remotely fuel levels and automatically emailed the customer when refueling was required, this fuel management feature is unique to Watkins Heater Hire and is offered completely free of charge even if we are not supplying the fuel.
Hire equipment supplied by Watkins Hire Ltd
1. MH500 Indirect Fired Heater (500Kw heat output)
2. FuelPAK 6500 Bunded Fuel Tank (Internet based fuel monitoring fitted)
500kw indirect fired high capacity heater hire unit
3. 1 x 5m quick release fuel lines
4. 2 x 3m High Temperature 640mm Ducting
5. 10 x 8m Standard 640mm Ducting
6. 4 x 4m Return Air Ducting
