RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION Ӏ SECTOR REPORT
j “There are many reasons our cranes are widely used for house construction,” says Lewitz. “They are light in weight, they assemble easily - even in tight spaces, they have compact dimensions, and a small footprint. For eco-friendly and resource-saving operation they can be equipped with strong e-motors and/or battery drive with 230 V charging technology, depending on the model. And they, of course, offer enough power and reach to perform all tasks on the construction site.” Another lightweight and
transportable substitute for the tower crane that shares its up-and- across geometry is the self-erector. Montarent are specialists here. Our photograph (p40) shows a Montalift 102 4WDS self-erecting tower crane with 24 m jib being used on a three-family-house project in Roelofarendsveen in The Netherlands. “Instead of using a stationary tower crane on each house, the mobile tower crane is moved easily from one house to the next,” says Richard Blokker, Montarent’s planning and logistics officer. “The crane can move in its erected position on site, which means it can deal with the limited space available and enlarges its working range. “We are seeing a lot of demand
for self-erecting tower cranes at the moment. The Montalift ONTM21 4WDS is still our most popular model.” It is a 21tm crane that can
lift 1.8 t and can be fully erected within ten minutes via radio control and display. “But we are expanding our range with a larger model with a 30m jib and 22m lifting height. “Recently we have been seeing
also larger but stationary self- erecting tower cranes being used in the building of new apartments and transformation of office blocks into apartments,” Blokker says. He gives the example of a Potain
38 CRANES TODAY
potain Igo T130 escapes captivity IN pennsylvania At a four-storey construction site in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a tower crane appears encased and trapped in the courtyard of the complex it is erecting. It’s an illusion that shows contractor Quality Buildings using self-erecting cranes to reimagine its entire building process.
The project is a 256-unit
apartment complex. Local firm Quality Buildings was selected as the subcontractor for framing, largely due to the crane choice that it factored into its estimate: a Potain Igo T 130 self-erecting tower crane placing pre-fabricated wall, truss and roof components. The crane is lifting frame wall bundles that are 3.6 m x 2.4 m x 2.7 m (12 ft x 8 ft x 9 ft), each weighing over 1,360 kg (3,000 lbs). “There really was no other piece of equipment that would work,” said Elmer Zook, president at Quality Buildings. “With the tight jobsite and limited laydown space we erected the tower crane in the middle of the building. That allows us to service the entire construction site from a single location. Using the Potain Igo T 130 we can offload supplies from trucks parked along the street and place them at the exact location on the building where it is needed.” “The self-erectors are also much
less costly than using a top-slewing tower crane, especially for small to mid-size contractors.” Zook estimates they can complete jobs up to 30 percent faster with about 25 percent fewer labourers compared to traditional stick-building methods. Working lockstep with project engineers, they purposely left one 3.6 m (12 ft) wide archway exit
Credit: Quality Buildings
from the courtyard unfinished. Once construction was complete on the upper floors they slid the disassembled crane through this archway to remove it from the site. “You have to know what problem you are trying to solve,” Zook said. “This is not a one-size-fits-
all product, but for specific projects, there are not many other types of lifting equipment that can get the job done as easily.”
HUP 32-27 seen on a project in Amsterdam. “And trailer-mounted self-erecting tower cranes are still taking market share from the smaller traditional stationary tower cranes in the housing industry.” Speaking of Potain, they claim
the world's widest range of self- erecting cranes with the Hup, Hup M, Igo, Igo M and Igo T series. “They are mainly used in residential construction,” says Dominique Leuiller, marketing director for Europe. “Thanks to the reach of f
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