Manufacturing company Sky Hill Heavy Engineering – a part of project services corporation Hydra-Arc in Secunda, Mpumalanga – has already commenced with the 100 m expansion of three of its four fabrication bays to accommodate its heavy lifting fleet, says Hydra-Arc.

The bays are each 520 m in length, with total fabrication space of more than 75 000 m² under roof and another 50 000 m2 of outdoor fabrication platforms.

Fabrication and refurbishment projects are executed from the engineering to the transportation stages, with most of these stages being completed in-house by Hydra Arc’s Sky Hill fabrication facility.

Bay One at Sky Hill consists of 12 600 m2 of undercover working areas, with 9.1 m under the hook head space for the two 45 t and two 80 t overhead cranes, each with an accelerating hoist of 10 t.

Ongoing refurbishment projects at Bay One consist of ash locks and heat exchangers – which started in March 2010 – for petrochemicals leader Sasol.

Bay Two is used for refurbishment, maintenance and new fabrication projects for smaller-scale or exotic materials, with an undercover working area of 12 600 m2.

Machinery used in this bay includes three overhead cranes, each with a lifting restriction of 20 t, and one 10 t crane.

Projects taking place inside this bay include a piping fabrication project contract – which started in January and is expected to reach completion in June – for diversified construction, infrastructure concessions and related services group Group Five.

Fin-fan refurbishment for Sasol, which started in March 2010 and is still ongoing, also takes place within this bay.

Bay Three is exclusively reserved for new fabrication projects of small to very large scale of any material type. Bay Three machinery includes three 160 t cranes – capable of working in tandem – and two 80 t cranes.

Projects currently taking place in this bay include bullet fabrication, which started in January 2012, and gunk stabiliser fabrication, which started in February last year. These projects are being undertaken for Sasol.

Bay Four is the latest addition to Sky Hill’s fabrication facility – the bay was added in December 2014. This bay is exclusively reserved for mega-scale projects.

The bay accommodates the largest of pressurised equipment and structural construction projects, such as heavy-walled, large-diameter pressure vessels and modularised plant fabrications. Machinery used in this bay include three 500 t cranes – which can work in tandem to lift 1 500 t, unprecedented globally – and two 80 t cranes.

Sky Hill’s fabrication facility is also working on a water tank fabrication project – which started in May 2013 – for the Mpumalanga government. These projects are ongoing, with the aim of providing rural areas with water infrastructure.

The Sky Hill facility is a green building design, with the primary workshops using only natural light during day-time production.

“This capacity of the facility, coupled with our access to the very best artisan skills in the country, will enable us to effectively compete globally and retain work, as well as attract work from overseas,” concludes Hydra-Arc Group chairperson Jose Maciel, noting that this will make a significant contribution to local economic growth and job creation.