3rd October 2023

West Midlands firefighters train on Sir Robert McAlpine tower crane

Our Three Chamberlain Square project team and local firefighters recently joined forces for a unique health and safety training day on a tower crane.

It was a privilege to get the West Midlands Fire Service on site to train on our tower crane.  

Crane training teamOur project team working on Three Chamberlain Square at Paradise Birmingham took great pleasure in extending an exclusive invitation to West Midlands First Service Technical Rescue Unit , offering them the opportunity to use our own tower crane on site to conduct their training exercise.

The safety of crane operations is paramount on site, especially when working on high-rise construction projects. During the training session, our team engaged with real-life simulations which involved rescuing a crane operator in distress due to illness or injury. While a dummy was used for realism and safety purposes, the exercise provided invaluable practical experience, shedding light on the complexities of crane rescues.


The rescue training was a huge success, everyone that took part thoroughly enjoyed the day. This training improves the safety of everyone on our site by increasing our capabilities to rescue an injured person from a multitude of dangerous situations.

Read more From Andy Towers, Chief Engineer at Sir Robert McAlpine
Andy Towers

Andy Towers, Chief Engineer at Sir Robert McAlpine

The rescue training was a huge success, everyone that took part thoroughly enjoyed the day. This training improves the safety of everyone on our site by increasing our capabilities to rescue an injured person from a multitude of dangerous situations.

We took this opportunity to offer our tower crane to West Midlands Fire Service Technical Rescue Unit, who spent the day simulating rescue scenarios from a crane on our live construction site. They said this was a rare and hugely beneficial opportunity to them.

Close From Andy Towers, Chief Engineer at Sir Robert McAlpine

Watch Manager Shyam Rana, of West Midlands Fire Service, said: “Our crews train and take part in exercises regularly, so we can provide the best possible response when our specialist skills are needed. We were extremely grateful for this opportunity to hone our working-at-height, rope rescue and casualty care skills, and for being made so welcome.”    

Through this collaboration and sharing our tower crane, we looked to enhance health and safety, not just for construction, but also for the greater good of the community.

Well done to all participants! 

News and comment

  1. One Centenary Way Birmingham

    One Centenary Way reaches practical completion

    07 Mar 2023

    Congratulations to the project team as Birmingham’s latest, and one of its largest contemporary commercial buildings, has reached its final construction milestone as part of the Paradise development.

    Read more about One Centenary Way reaches practical completion
  2. Giant crane swings into action on the M74

    09 Jul 2010

    The biggest mobile crane in Europe was used to successfully position seven huge steel beams across the River Clyde during construction of one of the largest structures on the M74 Completion project in Glasgow.

    Read more about Giant crane swings into action on the M74
View more news