A Carnforth-based company has been awarded an extensive contract to design, manufacture and install a series of radar towers across the UK.
LARS Communications, an industry leader in providing bespoke infrastructure solutions, was awarded the contract following their submission of a unique design which could be developed and applied to various radar tower applications.
Initially, the approved design was applied to structures which were installed at three sites in England. The first of these sites was in Cambridgeshire, where a 30-metre tower was installed. This was followed by two 20-metre tower installations in Hampshire and Oxfordshire.
More recently, they have completed the installation of a 10m version of the radar tower in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, with additional installation applications lined up for further sites throughout 2022/23, including North Yorkshire, Wales and another site in Cambridgeshire.
Bespoke Radar Tower Design
The tower itself is a 4-leg tube and angle structure which is constructed in five metre sections, with an internal staircase and a working platform on all four sides at the top of the tower. The top section also supports a cabin where all the electrical components are housed. All of the steel fabrication is carried out at LARS’ in-house fabrication workshop in Carnforth, Lancashire.
The towers undergo rigorous factory acceptance tests ensuring that each component complies with required specifications, and all are certified under the UKCA marking scheme for structural steelwork. This also ensures that once the installation teams are on-site, the tower build itself can be carried out with maximum efficiency.
Once all the sections have been manufactured, part assembled and tested they are sent to be galvanised. Hot dip galvanising is a factory controlled metallurgical combination of zinc and steel. This process provides corrosion resistance in a wide variety of environments.
Supply and Installation
In each instance, LARS has overseen the transportation of the towers to each site. Once delivered, the team manages the plant equipment required for the installation, including cranes, telehandlers, traffic management systems and task lighting. The company employs its own experienced climbing engineers to erect the structures.
Each five metre section is assembled at ground level and then lifted by crane into place. The pre-assembled cabin is lifted and fixed into the top section of the tower, also at ground level, before the whole top section is then also lifted into place.
Business Development Manager, Julian Cooper, was delighted to win the project; “This is a really exciting project to work on and a fantastic win for us.
“The brief required an entirely new design, something which could be applied to other radar sites going forward. We have now completed the installation at the first few sites and look forward to several more over the course of the next year or so.
“Finally, a massive thank you to all involved. This has been a fantastic team effort and we can all feel justifiably proud of what we’ve achieved so far.”
