In May, the Arora Group will start building a 14-storey hotel next to Terminal 2 of one of the world’s busiest airports – Heathrow airport in London. And right by its side will be Linden Comansa’s 21LC750 tower crane. Jan Arreza reports.
Supplied by rental company City Lifting, the machine is said to be the UK’s largest flat top crane and it has its work cut out for it.
City Lifting owner Trevor Jepson told Cranes and Lifting a special model had to be installed at the Heathrow site – its maximum load capacity is 50 tonnes instead of the regular 48 tonnes – so that it can lift heavy prefab modules of up to 13,200kg.
“This increase in the load has been possible thanks to a new and lighter trolley/hook set and the use of compact wire rope, which improves not only the maximum capacity but the entire load program,” Jepson said.
City Lifting director Bob Jones further explained why a flat top was picked for the project.
“The ceiling height of the airport radar interference is only 2m above the crane. If an A-frame crane was used, it would have penetrated the radar. In this configuration with a 55m jib, lifting capacity at the end of the jib was 16.2t. This can be increased to 17.28t by using the PowerLift system, which is standard on all flat-top models from Linden Comansa.”
Once the project is done and dusted, Jepson is convinced the company will receive rental enquiries because “the trend in construction is to use heavier prefabricated units and machines like the 21LC750 will be more necessary for construction companies to work in a quick and efficient way.”