Birmingham Development Company’s construction arm BuildAbility raised the two specially designed cranes from 54m and 63m to their full height of 99m and 101m respectively.
The crane situated next to the pedestrian footbridge, was hydraulically jacked using a state of the art technique never used before on a Jost manufactured crane.
The cranes, which have been on site since 2008, are painted black in keeping with The Cube brand and are the first black tower cranes to be seen in the UK since Buckingham Palace was constructed. They now stand taller than Birmingham’s Alpha Tower and have created a landmark within their own right that is visible from across the city, marking The Cube scheme on the skyline before it’s even complete.
To meet the height necessary for the construction of The Cube, which will reach 70m in height upon completion in spring 2010, the base tower sections had to be specifically made for the project.
Installed in just under six hours, the German built climbing frame was fixed onto the crane tower to allow the hydraulic lifting to commence. This involved the jacking of the frame and careful insertion of six new tower sections, each measuring 6m in height, using the other crane to lift the sections into position.
Both of the Jost JT312 topless cranes were supplied by London Tower Cranes.
The Cube is a 23 storey mixed use building which on completion in spring 2010 will include a boutique hotel, waterside cafés, designer retail stores, offices, 244 apartments of which well over half have already been sold and a rooftop restaurant let to D&D London, formerly Conran. Hovering on a glass base, an intricate anodised aluminium fretwork encases the building while inside an open glass atrium twists as it climbs the height of the building.