Passers by were heard to say “That’ll never fit!”, but months of careful preparation became apparent when Conair UK Ltd completed another difficult Air Blast Cooler replacement at London Underground’s Southwark Station.

The site had to be carefully cleared of street furniture, potted vegetation and an ornamental archway before the dismantling of louvred grille panels and the removal of the existing equipment.

The replacement unit was considerably larger than the original and careful measuring and paper-based calculations and dry-runs were needed to plan how it would fit into the available aperture.

By laying the unit flat, approaching at worked-out angles via a tele-loader and then using a block and tackle to return upright, the job was done in a way that many maths teachers would be proud of!

And of course, once the unit was in place, the grilles, potted plants, street furniture etc. all had to be put back so that no-one would know that we had been there.

The unit is now fully functional and is said to be giving unprecedented levels of efficiency and reliability to the remote equipment which it serves throughout the station below. We couldn’t ask for better!