Les Capelli said the design and construction of the bogeys to enable the 45m high building to move up to 80m when required were well within the company's range of expertise. "These are similar to the bogeys we have built in the past for mining stack reclaimers, and we have manufactured bigger bogeys for ship loaders," Capelli said.

He is equally excited by the portal crane and two overhead cranes also being designed and manufactured by the company. To span the great internal clearances of the assembly hall, the portal crane will have dual crane bridges 65m long and 5m high, each weighing 150t. "By anybody's standards, this is a particularly massive crane," he said.

Vector Lifting was selected by Multiplex Constructions ahead of several world names in crane manufacture, a decision that Capelli put down to the quality of its design, price and the ability to give the client confidence "that we can do the job". And since, he added, "we have come up with some very innovative ideas that eliminate any problems for the future, saved costs now and prevent any future blowouts on the job".

Vector Lifting and its sister company, fabricator Scenna Constructions, have established themselves as leaders in a wide range of specialist activities particularly in the mining and transportation industries.

Scenna Constructions was established in 1974 as a specialist in heavy steel fabrication for the mining and construction industry. Vector Lifting, established 13 years ago, is particularly known for its heavy lifting systems for trains and heavy vehicles. Its systems are used throughout Australia and several overseas countries for the maintenance of railway locomotives and carriages.

The company supplied the lifting equipment that allows up to the 21 carriages of the Great South Pacific Express to change over from standard gauge to narrow gauge bogeys in just eight hours at the Queensland-New South Wales border and is now developing a system for an overseas railway that will simultaneously lift a 12 carriage train that is 340m long and weighs nearly 500t.

Vector Lifting also manufactures a range of vehicle lifting jacks for vehicle and equipment maintenance and pallet lifters alongside its range of heavy industrial, gantry and slewing jib cranes.