RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION Ӏ SECTOR REPORT
FASTER, GREENER, HoMES
Around the world housing supply fails to keep up with demand. The crane industry is playing
its part with new cranes that focus on fast, low- and zero-emissions equipment, that meet the needs of tradespeople and delivery drivers across the sector. Will North reports.
The housebuilding sector is in many ways one of the simplest the lifting industry serves. Loads are relatively light, often measured in kilograms rather than tonnes. Typically, they will only need to be lifted two or three stories high. But this is a sector that requires speed and, increasingly, quiet and carbon free operation. Whether crane owners are looking for a handy tool for rooftop installations, the high working area coverage provided by a tower crane, or the power and reach of a knuckleboom, manufacturers
Powering up: Böcker’s AK48e drove 720km from the Böcker factory to its stand at Bauma (image above)
now offer a range of highly optimised equipment.
LIGHTWEIGHT AND ELECTRIC Lightweight boom cranes, once a regional peculiarity of Germany and its Continental neighbours, have in recent years become increasingly popular in the UK. These cranes have become known as ‘aluminium boom’ cranes, reflecting the design approaches used for many early models. But today, they often use high strength steels, carefully cut and optimised to offer reasonable load capacity, with long reach. They are most commonly mounted on commercial trucks, but can also be delivered on trailers or crawler carriers. This makes them ideal for the
fairly lightweight jobs found on low rise residential projects: lifting roof trusses or mounting solar panels. And as more sites adopt modern methods of construction (MMoC) they can be used to place aerated concrete panels, speeding construction times and reducing the need for back-breaking, risky, manual labour. Jobs like this will, by their
nature, often take place close to where people live. Noise and emissions are both a particular challenge. And, around the world, clients, regulators and planners are
20 CRANES TODAY
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