Extra big at La Defense

French contractor Bouygues has used two big hoists made by XL Developpement France on the major T1 building project at La Defense in Paris.

The XMH 5000 is a heavy duty twin mast machine with 5 t capacity, a 6 m by 3 m cage, and maximum hoist speed of 35 m/min. (The hoist is part of the XM modular line, with interchangeable drive units and main parts, and capacities of up to 8 t.)

The 2.5 t capacity ELL 2500 special hoist – (pictured inset) at the top of the building – is designed to carry formwork, props, tables and other concrete forming equipment between floors at the top of a concrete formed building. In this case the hoist spans three floor levels, although it can do more if there is a big enough crane to lift it up to the next level. The hoist takes just 30 minutes to install at the new level.

The XL Developpement products are distributed worldwide by Spanish–based Access Systems Climber (Asclimber), except in France.