MT Højgaard picks Potain for hospital project

The job site stretches across 330,000sqm and will comprise several buildings as well as vehicular and pedestrian paths. The new hospital’s main campus will include 134,500sqm of hospital buildings, with 581 beds, 32 operating rooms and 117 outpatient clinics. It will also house the new Aalborg University Faculty of Health Science, which will span some 17,000sqm.

The contractor MT Højgaard chose a mix of three Potain models to work on the job site: eight Potain GTMR 386 B self-erecting cranes, six Potain MDT 178 tower cranes and one Potain MDT 218 A J10.

Ajos, the Danish Potain dealer and construction equipment rental company, supplied the cranes.

“A lot of planning is required prior to the rental of cranes for a large and complex job like this,” said Bjarne Frølund Nielsen, technical consultant for Ajos. “We needed to supply cranes that provide efficient, high-hoisting capacities and that can adapt to a variety of site conditions.”

The cranes are positioned throughout the site and are lifting steel, concrete and formwork materials, with the heaviest load weighing approximately 6t. The variety of structures being constructed, along with the number of pre-existing buildings and transportation pathways, necessitated a fleet of cranes that could provide several capacities and reach options.

The Potain MDT 178, for example, features a low profile, “city topless” design and a large lifting capacity that make it especially adaptable for the project. It has a 66.9m hook height, an 8t capacity and a maximum jib length of 60m.

The self-erecting GTMR 386 B cranes are on site to provide quick transport and installation options, and compact footprints that enable them to be erected in tight working quarters. They have a maximum hook height of up to 32m, a maximum load capacity of 8t and a 50m jib. The third model of crane on the project is the top-slewing MDT 218 A J10, which features an extra-long maximum jib radius of 65m and a high 10t capacity.