CMC takes cleaning to new heights at Heathrow

Affordable Access Hire, based in the UK, has supplied a CMC S20 for high-level cleaning at London’s Heathrow Airport.

High-level cleaning in a busy airport building comes with a few complications. The areas that need attention are well above floor level, but getting a machine underneath them is only half the battle. There are doorways and internal routes to negotiate, delicate flooring to consider and a mix of mezzanines, stairs, signs and structural features that can get in the way of a straightforward lift.

Affordable Access Hire’s S20 positioned along the internal concourse for high-level access. (Image: CMC).

For a cleaning contractor working at Heathrow, the job called for access equipment that could get into the building without becoming a problem in its own right. Affordable Access Hire supplied a CMC S20 from the Light and Compact (LC) range — a tracked spider lift built for precisely this sort of awkward access.

Getting the machine inside

The S20 can narrow to just 79 cm and travel at under 2 m of height. Its quick-release basket can be removed when access is especially tight. That combination matters on an indoor job: the contractor can get a 20 m working-height machine through restricted routes that would rule out much bulkier equipment.

The S20 is also part of CMC’s road-towable range. It is compact enough to make access practical on a wide variety of sites, indoors and out, without the logistics normally associated with larger access machines. Once in position, the tracked undercarriage and stabiliser arrangement help manage ground loading — an important consideration on sensitive internal surfaces, subject to the site-specific floor assessment and suitable protection where required.

Up, over and into the right position

With the machine set up, the contractor still needed to reach around the building itself. Mezzanine floors, signs and stairways can make a straight vertical lift of little use. The S20’s articulated boom gives the operator the ability to work up and over obstacles, then bring the basket towards the area that needs cleaning.

It offers up to 10.4 m of unrestricted outreach, with a 230 kg basket capacity maintained at full outreach. That gives the cleaning team room for the operative and the equipment needed for the task — buckets, cleaning products and other materials — while staying within the rated load and the site’s working procedures.

Where specified, the basket can rotate 90° either way. It sounds like a small detail until you are trying to line up beside a sign or reach a particular section of glazing. Instead of repeatedly moving the whole machine, the operator can make finer adjustments at the basket. The turret also offers 360° non-continuous rotation, giving useful flexibility when working across different areas from a suitable setup position.

Why electric matters

The S20 in its compact travelling configuration inside the Heathrow’s Terminal 3 airport building. (Image: CMC).

Inside an enclosed building, a combustion engine is often the wrong answer. The S20’s electric operating option allows the boom to be used without local exhaust emissions from an engine while working indoors. It is a more suitable approach for this sort of environment, with the final setup and power arrangements agreed for the site.

The lift does not do the cleaning. The contractor does. What the S20 brings is a workable route into the building and a stable, precisely positioned platform from which trained professionals can use their own skills at height. That is the value of a compact machine with serious reach: less time spent wrestling with access, and more attention on the work itself, added the company. 

For Affordable Access Hire, it is a good example of matching the hire machine to the actual site rather than just the height on the job sheet, said the company. And for CMC, it shows why compact dimensions, electric operation and unrestricted outreach belong together.