A hotel which has effectively been prefabricated in France has been built in London with the aid of Hewden Crane Hire.
The Custom House hotel development in London’s Docklands district comprises 167 concrete ‘pods’ of pre-fabricated bedroom units. Each was lifted into place with a 400t Liebherr LTM 1400 crane. The pods were placed at a rate of seven or eight a day. Hewden Cranes heavy crane manager Alan Turner likened the operation to putting a jigsaw together.
The pods, built in France, arrived on site complete with bed and all furniture and accessories bolted onto the floor, and are stacked one on top of the other to constitute the structure of the five-storey building.
