Christmas lights for GGR

GGR Group used a Unic mini spider crane to assemble a Christmas tree at the Liverpool One shopping centre in Liverpool, UK.

The Christmas tree is 30 metres tall and is the largest in the UK. The 23 tonne steel structure has a 12-sided steel cone, 280 heart-shaped lights, 314 light rods and more than 2,000 m of cables.

It was assembled over a two week period by a team of GGR lifting experts using a Unic URW-706 spider crane. The Unic URW-706 has a 6 tonne capacity at a radius of 3 m and a height of 7.2 m. The tree was constructed in two halves before being lifted into position by the spider crane. The steel sections, weighing up to 450 kg each were lifted to 12 m high.

The tree was designed by Trapeze Creative. Simon Dews, Trapeze Creative managing director, said, “This is definitely our most ambitious project to date. It is a massive challenge, a very exciting challenge and we are really looking forward to seeing the finished tree. It will certainly have the wow factor!”

Graeme Riley, GGR Group CEO, said, “It is always fun to be involved with Christmas decoration projects and it is something we do a lot of every year. There is extra excitement when we get involved with a job like this though; the UK’s biggest Christmas tree is a bit special. The finished tree looks great and the work that has gone in to design and build it is truly impressive.”

The tree was unveiled as part of Liverpool One’s Christmas launch on Friday 13 November.