Soft ground pushes Gheysens’ AC 7.450-1 back from Bruges belfry

The ground said no

The operation in the protected heart of Bruges was originally built around a 160-tonne machine standing in the street directly beside the belfry. That plan did not survive contact with the site: the ground there could not be relied on to carry the crane. Rather than rebuild the standing area, crane service provider Gheysens moved the machine back and made up the distance with boom length.

“The original plan was to carry out the job using a 160-tonne crane positioned on the street right next to the belfry. However, the ground there proved too unstable for the crane. We therefore had to work from a greater distance and use a crane with significantly more reach.”

— Miguel Gheysens, Managing Director, Gheysens

The answer was the company’s seven-axle Tadano AC 7.450-1. Working at a radius of 35 metres, it used its 80-metre main boom to reach a hook height of 67.7 metres — enough to keep the crane well clear of the questionable ground while still covering the work area.

A big crane in a medieval street pattern

Footprint was the second constraint. Bruges’ old town leaves little room for a crane of this size, let alone for rigging one. Gheysens set the AC 7.450-1 up in SSL configuration with 120 tonnes of counterweight, and found that even the Sideway Superlift arms could be deployed within the space available.

“This allowed us to make the most of the AC 7.450-1’s design advantages: combining the compact dimensions of a 6-axle crane with the power of an 8-axle model, it proved to be the ideal machine for Bruges’ narrow city center. Even setting up the Sideway Superlift system worked perfectly in the confined space.”

— Miguel Gheysens, Managing Director, Gheysens

Rigged overnight, lifting by afternoon

To avoid tying up the city centre during business hours, the crew rigged the crane on a night shift ahead of the lift. The machine was reported ready to work by 9.30am, leaving a comfortable margin before the afternoon’s operation. That preparation showed: the lift itself passed without incident.

For the family firm, the choice of manufacturer is a settled question. Manager Christophe Gheysens put it plainly: “There is a reason we prefer Tadano cranes: they stand for quality — and that applies to both the products and the service, the reliability of which we particularly value.”

Miguel Gheysens added that doing the work in his own city gave the job an extra edge: “Being able to execute a job like this to absolute perfection right in the heart of our beautiful city naturally made us all very happy.”

Source: Tadano — Photos: Tadano