ALE transports farmhouse

Heavy lift and transportation company ALE have transported a farmhouse in Lent, Netherlands.

Complete with thatched roof, the house (which dates back to the 1850s) weighs 450 tonnes. It was moved to make way for a highway exit under construction.

Engineers from ALE used 20 axles of self propelled modular transporter (SPMT) to self load the house before it was transported more than 800 metres. Because of poor ground conditions a temporary road was constructed for the move.

The project was completed in less than ten hours, ALE said.

Sjak Aerts, ALE engineering manager, said, “In terms of size this was one of ALE’s smaller projects, however it was no less challenging than large scale transportations, not only was this someone’s home, we also had the integrity of the building to accommodate for. The team overcame this through careful planning and ensuring that every detail of the move was planned and surveyed beforehand. The building was successfully installed by ALE’s hydraulic trailers to its foundations complete with a new basement.”