The crane was damaged when a 150-mph burst of wind from Sandy raced up the side of the One57 building, which the crane was working on. The wind folded the crane’s lattice boom backward over its machinery house, leaving a section of boom dangling over the street.
JVT&R had to remove previously installed structural steel framing above the roof, handling sections of the damaged tower crane boom as they were removed. They assembed a rooftop derrick which lowered the damaged tower crane’s rotating platform to the ground and lifted its replacement to the top of the tower.
The Maeda minicrane was transported to the top of the 75- storey building using the project’s construction elevator. The crane was heavier than the elevator’s capacity, so some of the components had to be removed for the elevator ride, then reassembled once the crane was on the building’s roof.
The MC305-2’s first job was to handle steel beams from a rooftop structure that had to be dismantled to make room for the mini crane and the derrick crane to work. It then handled 5ft lengths of the tower crane’s damaged lattice boom as ironworkers from Piermount Iron Works, Wayne, N.J., cut them up.
The minicrane then lifted or lowered each cut-off section to a landing on the 72nd floor, where it was pulled into the building and taken to the ground on the construction elevator. Other jobs the crane performed included helping to remove other parts of the tower crane, including boom stops, boom-support bridles, and sheave assemblies.
JVT&R also used the Maeda MC305 to assemble a 40t Timberland derrick with a 94ft boom on the building’s roof. The derrick was then used to lower the rest of the damaged tower crane’s machinery deck to the ground, and lift a replacement upper section to the top of the tower, which was unaffected by the hurricane.
Components for the derrick’s sills, masts, swing-bearing support, boom, machinery deck, and counterweights were carried to the roof by the construction elevator. The mini crane then handed these to the crane-erection crew. Maeda said that its crane will stay on the roof to help handle materials and to be on standby for the derrick.
