Seattle comes first

24 April 2018 by Sotiris Kanaris

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GLY Construction is using a Linden Comansa 64t LCL700 luffer to build the Rufus 2.0 Block 21 project, part of Amazon's new headquarters in downtown Seattle. This is the first unit of this model to arrive in the Americas, both North and South.

The project includes the construction of two office buildings, one of 25 storeys and the other of eight. Apart from the LCL700, Linden Comansa America also supplied a 20t 21LC550 flat top tower crane.

The schedule for the delivery and erection of the LCL700 was tight, as two of the surrounding roads had to be closed to traffic with a 48 hour permit only.

The design of the LCL700 and the different features that come as standard were key for this agile erection. The LCL700 is delivered from the factory with pre-assembled luffing reevings, allowing riggers to work faster and reduce the erection time. The crane also includes a support winch, used to lift and put in place the auxiliary ropes of the jib, or to displace and install the heavy reeving pulleys without needing the support of a mobile crane, among other functions.

The team consisting of technicians from Linden Comansa’s headquarters in Spain and Linden Comansa America, working with the local erectors from Northwest Tower Crane, assembled this large crane well within the time allotted.

The crane was erected with full jib of 65m (213.3ft) and initial tower height of 20.3m, but it will be climbed to a final freestanding height of 60m.

In this jobsite, the LCL700 will be used with single line pull, to lift maximum loads of 32t (70,550lb), but a simple manual change to double line system could make this crane load up to 64t.

This model is the largest luffing-jib tower crane manufactured by Linden Comansa. It was launched in April 2017 with two versions of maximum load (50t and 64t) and designed to be used mainly in jobsites with reduced space, like in very large and congested cities. In the past year, the Spanish manufacturer has already sold some units in Asia.