Dutch commerce and rental company Gebri Handel & Verhuur used its new LTR 1150 telescopic crawler crane, the first model in The Netherlands, to help build 48 residential apartments in just seven weeks.
The residential complex was built in the harbour of Alphen aan den Rijn, situated between the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
The building, which is almost 25 metres tall in places, is on a plot of just under 800 square metres. Due to its location between existing developed areas, a narrow road, and the harbour basin, there was little space in which to work or to set the crane up.
To overcome this challenge Gebri started building the complex’s inner courtyard first and then worked outwards as the building grew. It was able to complete the residential complex by finally positioning the crane in the road.
“The spatial conditions meant that the use of an adequately powerful top-turning tower crane was not an option here,” explains Maichel van Vliet, who works for the construction firm Meijmat and who operated the Liebherr crane throughout the project. “Even a mobile construction crane would have not delivered enough lifting power. When it came to lifting pre-fabricated elements, with unit weights of up to 13 tonnes and a boom radius of around 18 metres, the LTR 1150 was the ideal tool. It’s small, agile and fast.”
The boom was telescoped to 45 metres on the job (although the crane has a maximum boom length of 52 metres).
Because the pre-fabricated components were delivered ‘just in time’ the crawler’s pick and carry capability was crucial.
The LTR 1150 had to lift the components from the heavy-duty transporters and then travel with them directly to the installation site.
“The crane really helped us make fast progress with this,” says van Vliet. “Each day we were able to complete an entire storey for each section of the construction. In the morning we positioned the walls, then everything goes up on the hook: from the bathrooms to the floors. And towards the evening, we placed the ceiling panels on the wall elements. A hundred lifts a day are no problem with this crane. Everything went smoothly.”
