ST Engineering Antycip Provides Key for Construction Operators

ST Engineering Antycip and CM Labs Simulation Solutions partnered to develop and install an on-site crane simulator for BYLOR, a joint venture between European engineering and construction specialists Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke.

BYLOR was contracted by EDF Energy to deliver the main civil engineering works at EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point C (HPC) in Somerset. For this project, estimated at £2.8 billion, the company will erect over 50 tower cranes, use over 230,000 tonnes of reinforcements, and 1.2 million cubic metres of concrete will be. The site will also host the world’s largest crane, nicknamed ‘Big Carl’, which is capable of reaching 165m and lift up to 5,000 tonnes. To more efficiently train the construction personnel required for such an undertaking, BYLOR made the decision to install an on-site crane simulator.

ST Engineering Antycip integrated the five CM Labs Vortex Advantage screens for the simulator, which creates a full field of view and a includes a dynamic motion platform, in order to replicate the real operator experience as closely as possible. The system can run training modules for a saddle-jib tower crane, a luffing-jib tower crane, a crawler crane, a rough-terrain mobile crane, and an overhead travelling gantry crane.

The simulator was installed in November 2020 at the Training School located near HPC’s South Plaza and is already playing an important role in BYLOR’s training and competency assessment plan for HPC lifting team members. Operatives, slinger signallers and interested parties like construction managers are being put through realistic crane related scenarios and tested in high winds and poor visibility conditions from the safety of the simulator driving seat, using controls that are exact replicas of those found in the real equipment. There’s also a separate station where a slinger signaller can give hand signals on camera to the person operating the crane to assess how well the lifting team works and communicates together even when the operator cannot see the load.

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“We have been working closely with Hinkley Point C and the BYLOR lifting and plant team for over two years,” said Amir Khosh, commercial sales at ST Engineering Antycip. “The client wanted to ensure they can boast the most realistic simulator in the market for training operators. This was very important, as there are simulators on the market that do not replicate the actual realistic physics of lifting equipment, which could potentially lead to real world dangers. Our simulators teach transferable skills that can be applied on real equipment without risk of negative training and teaching bad habits, especially to the future of younger operators.”

“Introducing simulation alongside the actual equipment for operator training at HPC is not only a proof-of-concept project but a start to a different type of efficient and effective training in construction,” said Khosh. “This technological adaptation will enhance training, taking it to the next level, just like we have witnessed in aerospace and automotive industries, who have been embracing the simulation technology for decades now.”