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• Construction director, Bovis Lend Lease

• A hands-free communication system for tower cranes

The Morse-sponsored award for mobile technology aims to reward construction managers who have used technology to improve the efficiency of their project. During the course of selecting the medal winners, the judges also keep their eyes out for innovators in mobile technology, and at the final judging meeting put forward the contenders to win the award.

This year’s winner has developed a system which not only makes working on site easier, but makes it safer too. The success of his idea is reflected in the fact that it is now being adopted across his company.

Highly commended in the PFI category for his motivational role as a construction manager on Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, Chris Carey also demonstrated his passion for improving safety. The innovation which impressed the judges was a hands-free communication system that allows banksmen to communicate with the tower crane driver via a computer in the cab, while at the same time allowing either to work with both hands.

Carey became aware of the need for improvements in communication between tower crane drivers and the ground while working in London’s Docklands and developed the technology on subsequent sites, first putting it into full use on the Grand Arcade shopping centre project in Cambridge. The system comprises cab-mounted computers in the tower cranes, CCTV at the hook and a hands-free, voice-activated bluetooth radio fitted into each banksman’s helmet. This allows the banksmen to secure or release the load while staying in touch with the crane driver. CCTV cameras can be fitted on the trolley of saddleback cranes or at the tip of the jib on luffing cranes looking down the ropes to the suspended load, and a further camera at the hook gives the operator an insight when lifting blind. Monitors in the driver’s cab allow a view of the area close to the load, and of those in the immediate vicinity, thus giving the operator further information to support a banksman’s instructions.

The cab-based computer also drives the crane anti-collision system, the trade packages’ lifting schedule and contains a black box to record the positioning of the crane as well as the conversations between banksman and driver.

The system has simplified crane operation on the Grand Arcade project where seven tower cranes vie for air space, where a substantial proportion of the lifts were blind and where the efficiency of crane operation was paramount to the success of the project. The innovative system removes the need for multiple devices such as mobile phones and radios.

Bovis Lend lease is now adopting the technology across all of its sites.