ALE’S LARGEST AND SMALLEST CRANES OPERATE IN LONDON AT THE SAME TIME

Recently, both ALE’s largest and smallest cranes were working in London at the same time.

As part of ALE’s largest crane fleet, the AL.SK190 was working for specialist contractor Keltbray on the Earls Court project, whilst the company’s most compact crane, the Lightweight Service Crane, was working in Stratford to lift building maintenance unit (BMU) components.

The AL.SK190 crane, which is 120m tall and has the capacity to lift 4,300t, is being deployed to lift portal beams out from above the London Underground system. The crane was specifically chosen as the optimum engineering solution and the method has been designed to minimise the impact on local residents, to help reduce the carbon footprint of the project and will significantly shorten the enabling works timescales by two years. ALE made history in June when undertaking the largest single lift undertaken in the UK by a land based crane of a beam weighing 1,500t – the equivalent of 118 London buses – in just 2.5 hours.

Speaking about the record breaking lift at Earls Court, Ronnie Adams, Senior Project Manager for ALE, said: “Operationally, this crane can achieve lifts previously unachievable and reinforces the innovation seen throughout the whole project. By all

of the partners working closely together, we have managed to perform the lifts succinctly and progress ahead of schedule.”

In the north-east of the city ALE used its latest innovation, the Lightweight Service Crane, for the first time to lift BMU components, weighing between 1t – 3.5t, onto a roof 124m high.

As it is fully designed out of light modular parts that can be assembled by hand it is ideal for use on projects where space is limited and access is difficult, like the high-rise building in Stratford, which was located in a congested and busy area.

“As a large crawler crane would’ve required a road closure, our Lightweight Service Crane was the only possible solution that avoided disruptions,” explained Patrick van der Ent, Account Manager – Offshore Handling Services.

All of the lifts were executed in just one day, with the preparation, mobilisation and demobilisation taking only one week to complete. This crane has now left London and the AL.SK190 continues to work at the Earls Court project.