A residential training centre for customs officers is close to completion in Bari, Italy. The 100,000m2 campus includes not just an accommodation and teaching block, but also a theatre, a church, a swimming pool and sports facilities. Around the site main contractors Spett.le Pizzarotti has had 10 tower cranes moving 5,000t of steel, 70,000m3 of concrete and 215,000m2 of shuttering. Work began at the end of 1999 and is scheduled for completion in December.
The tower cranes used on the project are all Liebherr EC-H series models, ranging in size from 140tm to 280tm. Hook heights range from 35.4m up to 56m, and operating radii extend to 65m. Seven of the cranes have Litronic control and use Liebherr’s teleservice system for long-distance data transfer and remote diagnostics. The remote diagnostic facility helps to minimise maintenance downtime and so maximises availability.
Across the Mediterranean in Egypt, joint venture contractors Oraskom Construction Industries (OCI) of Egypt and Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) of Greece are using 17 Liebherr tower cranes on the Golden Pyramids Plaza project (pictured right). This is a mixed use project for hotel, residential, retail and entertainment developments, being built on an 11.5ha site to the east of Cairo, between Heliopolis and Nasr City. Cranes used are 15 EC-H series models and two smaller LC models. Most are fitted with 60m jibs, but hook heights vary from 30m to 86m. With the project on a 26-month fast track, the cranes are operating 12 hours a day.
