Luxury lifting

Two Liebherr tower cranes are being used for the construction of Beach Tower, a luxury residential development nearing completion at Jeddah's Corniche, a prestigious address in the Saudi Arabian port city.

The cranes, a 120 HC and a 200 EC-H, were supplied by Saudi Liebherr Company Ltd, a division of E A Juffali and Bros, via its Jeddah office.

Taking advantage of the city's long seashore, the 23 km long corniche has been designed in three sections and provides recreational facilities and sea views.

The northern corniche, where the 40 storey Beach Tower is located, has made use of a shallow sea shelf ranging in width from 200 to 300 m to integrate sea, roads, lakes, landscaping, sculptures and recreational facilities.

Liebherr's HC series includes eight universal cranes rated between 800 and 5,000 tonne-metres, all designed for very high hook heights and very long jibs, said Liebherr. The 120-HC has a capacity of 8 tonnes and, at Beach Tower, has a 40 m jib.

The 200 EC-H 10 has a maximum hook height of 68.1 m and a lifting capacity of 10 tonnes.

Although this is a spacious area of the corniche, the plot of land on which Beach Tower stands is a confined one, and the two cranes were needed, one on each side of the building, to deploy materials for the duration of the construction phase. Beach Tower is due to top out during the third quarter of this year, and the first tenants will move in late 2009.