Crane and lifting awards for excellence
20 March 2008
During the recent redevelopment of the Millennium Dome in London, UK, Ainscough Crane Hire was approached by Quadro Services to lift numerous precast concrete seating units, forming part of the new O2 Arena, sitting as the centrepiece on the site of the former Millennium Dome.
What made this job particularly difficult was the radius and height to which the units had to be lifted, along with the limited headroom of 4.5 m available to the underside of the structural steelwork and the fragile fabric dome roof. Following detailed planning, two 95 tonne Liebherr LTM1095-5.1 all terrain telescopic cranes were chosen for their ability to telescope with a load both on main boom and with a fly jib installed.
Due to the design of the units and the lifting tackle arrangement there was insufficient headroom to place the back units using one crane.
Therefore, each unit, weighing 4.5 tonnes, was lifted using one of the cranes on main boom and telescoped to a temporary position on the terracing.
The units were then tandem lifted to their final position using both cranes, each equipped with a 10.5 m fly jib at 40 degrees offset.
Telescoping the fly jib at 40 degrees meant maximum headroom was achieved at the final working radius as the fly jib was virtually parallel with the roof.
All units were lifted without incident and the job was completed on time due to “the precision planning and excellent team work of all concerned.”Second (picture below) Mammoet replaced a 20 tonne zinc basin, measuring 11 by 3 m, by 1.7 m high. The basin had to be collected from the yard, moved inside, unloaded and positionedin the pit Inside working height was restricted to between 7.2 and 8.35 m, with other obstacles, such as steel structures and production facilities, proving a challenge Due to the restricted height careful measurements and preparation work was carried out before a final work method couldbe decided After carrying out jobsite studies Mammoet decided to use two Liebherr LTC 1055-3.1 compact telescopic mobile cranes with 10.4 tonnesof ballast The crucial point came when selecting a main boom configuration capable of telescoping under load between 10.2 and 14.9 m with a load capacity of 11 tonnes per crane The first crane was set up, followed by the trailer carrying the basin. The second crane followed before the basin was lifted, swung over a frame and lowered safely into the pit.
Dutch crane rental company H van Oorschot Kranen was faced with an emergency when an overhead gantry crane was struck by a storm, causing it to derail and topple over into a building Van Oorschot had to safely remove the crane from its awkward position without causing any further damage to the building or injury to people The company mobilised four Liebbherr cranes to the site ” tw o LTM 1060s, an LTM 1095 and an LTM 1100 It also brought in two access platforms to help in rigging the load and cutting the crane parts. The operation required careful commun i cat i on b etween t h e supervisors, rigging crew and crane operators to dismantle the crane and bring it safely to the ground.
