Kennards Lift & Shift recently provided Conservatory Construction Company with an innovative solution to installing a glass roof by suggesting they use vacuum lifters.  

The construction company needed to lift glass roof panels, 4.7m x 0.8m, and tilt them to 40 degrees for installation.  

The glass pieces to be installed were so long and thin that conventional glass lifters could not be used as the pads would not have been narrow enough, or there would have been too much of an overhang, which may break or crack the delicate glass.  

Kennards Lift & Shift in Adelaide came up with the solution to use two 320kg vacuum glass lifters and to get them to work simultaneously to install the glass. The vacuum glass lifters have four pads in a line, making them perfect for long, thin panels.  

Glass lifters were supplied by both Kennards Lift & Shift Adelaide and Melbourne, as use of only one glass lifter would have produced too much overhang. With the aid of a spreader beam, the two vacuum glass lifters provided a single lifting point of 635kg.  

The cranes two lifting hooks were used to lift, tilt and install the thin glass with perfect control.  

Paul Orechow, who operates Conservatory Construction Company in Adelaide, was incredibly pleased with the smooth, efficient operation of the project, “the job went like clockwork,” he said. “It was probably the only way we could have done it with such accuracy and safety.”  

Kennards Lift & Shift hires a range of glass lifters from its outlets in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.