BKL completes palace work

Two tower cranes from the fleet of German crane rental, sales and service company BKL Baukran Logistik completed a two-year assignment conducting restoration work at the Linderhof Palace in the Bavarian Alps, southern Germany.

The cranes were a Liebherr 90 EC-B flat-top tower crane and a Liebherr 32 TTR fast erecting tower crane on crawler tracks. The 90 EC-B, with a hook height of 40 metres, a 50-metre radius, and a maximum load capacity of 6 tonnes, was installed directly behind the palace, while the 32 TTR, with a hook height of 24 metres, a 30-metre radius and a maximum load of 4 tonnes, was positioned in front of the palace. According to BKL, the 32 TTR’s crawler chassis meant that it could be set up on sloping ground. Once in position, the cranes were then used to lift elements of the Palace’s façade and waterfall, which weighed up to 3 tonnes.

Once the renovation work had been completed, BKL’s Munich team dismantled the 90 EC-B using a Liebherr LTM 1350-6.1 mobile crane. The on-site conditions meant that the LTM 1350-6.1 had to be positioned on the opposite side of the building to the tower crane. It was used with a hook height of 55 metres and a 40-metre radius. In order to lift the required 8.5 tonnes of maximum load, however, BKL had to modify the LTM 1350-6.1’s configuration with a Y-telescopic boom guying system and a 12-metre extension on the main boom. 70 tonnes of ballast were used. BKL also used an 85-tonne-metre Palfinger PK 92002-SH loader crane as an auxiliary crane to speed up the dismantling and quick return of the tower cranes. The disassembly and return transport of the cranes took just one day, BKL said, keeping disruption to Palace visitors to a minimum.