The Cheesegrater, more properly known as The Leadenhall Tower at 122 Leadenhall Street, posed a particular challenge for lift engineers Van Doorn TCC. The striking Richard Rogers designed structure, built using an innovative modular construction technique, had not factored in a method to distribute the weight of a second tower crane.
With primary construction complete, a smaller tower crane was to be installed on the roof of the structure. This required construction of a crossbase on the roof, performed using a GGR Unic minicrane. With the new tower crane installed, the primary tower crane was disassembled and lowered to the ground, using the second crane and a derrick. Both tower cranes used were Terex Comedils.
You can view the pictures at our Flickr page by clicking here. Cranes Today will be returning to this story, and other major London projects, early next year.
This group is managed by Cranes Today, and offered as a way to share photos of construction cranes and to submit them for publication in the magazine.
