RWE: Crane liftable shelters keep outage on track

When RWE Generation UK began planning a major four-month outage at its Great Yarmouth Power Station site in 2026, they came to Renthall UK with specific requirements: temporary cover that could go up quickly, be lifted into place by crane, and come down again just as easily once the works were complete.

“Our four-month major outage involved storage and overhaul of large turbine components of up to 80 tonnes outdoors, which needed to be lifted by mobile crane, and be rotated at various stages of work,” says Ross Salmon, Rotating Equipment Engineer at RWE.

Every day a turbine stays offline is lost generating capacity, so minimising downtime is the priority. “On previous outages we had used sheeted scaffold structures, which would need to be built and dismantled each time cranes were used,” Ross continues.  “The liftable shelters gave a significant advantage by reducing delays, as the process of unbolting and lifting was very quick.”

Our crane-liftable shelters

RWE hired three liftable shelters: two 8m x 12m structures and one 8m x 9m structure, all with 3.3m leg eaves height.

Unlike a standard cover, each structure was specified with integrated lifting points, allowing them to be connected directly to crane operations and lifted into and out of position as the outage progressed.

The temporary buildings were installed onto RWE’s existing tarmac and concrete hardstanding, avoiding the need for new foundations and without leaving a lasting footprint on site.

Site safety

The benefits extended to on-site safety, especially in comparison to scaffold methods.

“The shelters provided excellent protection from wind and rain, which would not have been as reliable with a sheeted scaffold structure,” Ross confirms.

“They also had the safety impact of reducing the requirement for work at height versus scaffold, as well as risk to turbine components of scaffold materials being dropped onto them.”

During servicing, engineers need full, safe access to the machinery. Cramped walkdowns and awkward access waste valuable time, so cover on site has to keep pace: quick to install, out of the way during the works, and most importantly safe.