The two cranes are being used to lift loads between 3t and 4t at the 313@somerset project on the retail hub. The cranes on the site can work with the jib raised to 70 degrees and have a maximum lift capacity of 16t. With the jib fully extended to 55m they can lift 2t.

313@somerset is an AUD23m ($16m), eight level retail development that will offer 294,000 sq ft of space for mid- and upper-range outlets.

The worksite is restricted by existing buildings on Orchard Road as well as the Stamford Canal, which runs through the site, and the Somerset MRT underground station, which is located beneath the site.

Bovis Lend Lease has placed the cranes, owned by Access Systems Technology Pte Ltd and supplied through Liebherr Singapore, in two of the building’s lifts shafts in order to overcome these restrictions.

“We are very tight for space on this site, with buildings on either side of us,” said Geoff Barrow, Bovis Lend Lease construction superintendent.

“Conventional tower cranes would have been very limited in operational terms and might not have given us the construction speeds we need. The luffing jib cranes have however resolved the problem of lifting within this very confined area.”