Hydro Rents Carolina, part of AGF Access Group’s rental division, was selected by Alabama-based general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie to provide full turnkey solution of service, installation, training and equipment rental for the construction of the new Lexington Medical Center addition, the largest hospital expansion in South Carolina history.
The new 10-story patient care tower in Columbia, S.C., will add 545,000 square feet, special care nursery beds, eight operating rooms, 71 inpatient beds and more to the facility. The job, stretching up to 185 feet, requires a multi-trade access solution, one that would allow steel erection, glazing, waterproofing, caulking, brick masonry, and glass installations to be completed simultaneously.
“Scaffolding and aerial lifts can’t go that high with the same capability,” said Allen Heape, general manager of Hydro Rents Carolina. “The only solution that was going to work for them was to use multiple mast climbers that supported extra high capacity for the workers and their tools. That way the workers could chase the steel up and perform any number of tasks at the same time.”
Hydro Rents delivered approximately 30 tractor-trailer loads of equipment to the jobsite starting in June 2017, supplying 23 factory-new Hydro Mobile platforms and 1,500 mast sections to complete the job. The job included 18 Hydro Mobile M-Series mast climbers and five P-Series mast climbers. There were also four Hydro Mobile H-500 hoists to help move brick up and down.
The M-Series platforms provided the workers with large, seven-foot wide decks, anywhere from two to 10 feet in length. The 22,000-pound capacity platforms allowed workers to load them up with their tools and supplies. The 6,000-pound capacity P-Series were perfect for constricted areas where the M-Series units couldn’t fit.
“Safety is a huge part of what we do on a daily basis, 24/7,” said Heape. “We take safety very seriously. Hydro Rents organized over 20 classes to train the workers, who were unfamiliar with this type of access equipment. Operators were put through four-hour user and operator courses on site and anyone working on the platforms had to have a familiarization class before they stepped on the Hydro-Mobile. We had to train over 100 operators how to use the equipment properly to ensure safety and efficiency on the jobsite.”
The Lexington Medical Center is scheduled to be completed in 2019.
Hydro Rents Carolina provides a variety of equipment brands such as Hydro Mobile, Multiquip, Hilti, Diamond Products, ReechCraft, and the new Material Unit Lift Enhancer (MULE) by Construction Robotics. Hydro Rents has eight branches in North America, including new locations in Charlotte, N.C., and Seattle.
