LARS Communications teams up with Globe Theatre specialists again

Local firm, LARS Communications, has once again teamed up with McCurdy & Co., the company behind the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

The Lancashire-based company previously worked with McCurdy & Co. on a tower installation on the Isle of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. The location this time was RRH Neatishead, an air defence radar station located close to Norwich.

Like the Benbecula tower, the brief was to design, fabricate and install a 40.2m telecommunications tower, the top eighteen metres of which is made of timber. The wooden section not only provides less interference with the radio antennae which are mounted to it, but it also creates less radar reflection.

The installation was part of Programme HYDRA, a series of works aimed at creating secure radar stations which can be operated remotely for the RAF. This is the fourth location to be upgraded as part of this vitally important programme, following installations at RRH Benbecula, RRH Buchan and RRH Brizlee Wood. 

The client was once again JRC Facilities who had been appointed by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 

Tower Design, Fabrication and Installation

The tower design was carried out by our tower design partners, Hampshire-based MFD Communication Infrastructure. Working alongside MFDCI, we submitted a detailed design and calculations package.

Upon completion and subsequent approval of the designs, all the steelwork was fabricated in our in-house fabrication workshop, while McCurdy & Co. constructed the timber framework.

Once manufactured, the steelwork and timber framework were transported to the site and assembled in situ. Any cranes, MEWPs and work platforms required were hired from local suppliers. 

Julian Cooper, business development manager at LARS Communications, was understandably proud to be part of such an important project, saying: “This was an amazing project to be involved in, and, like Benbecula, one which presented a unique set of challenges. Once again, the team rose to the challenge, ultimately delivering the project smoothly, on time, on budget and most importantly, to the satisfaction of the client.”