Spider crane replaces 600kg coral façade panels at an operational Dubai island resort
A UNIC URW-706-2 spider crane fitted with a fly jib has completed the removal and replacement of GRC façade panels at the BVLGARI Resort on Jumeirah Bay, Dubai, working alongside guests who remained on site.
Why a mini crane, not a mobile
UNIC dealer Spider Plus supplied the crane to project partner Fibrex Construction Group, which was contracted to strip the existing façade of one resort wing and install new coral glass-reinforced concrete panels. Each panel measured roughly 2m by 2.5m and weighed about 600kg.
Two factors ruled out conventional lifting equipment. The resort sits on a private island where one wing, the restaurants and the beach facilities stayed open throughout the works, so the lifting operation had to be contained inside the closed wing without spilling into guest areas. There was also a basement level directly beneath the main lobby, which made bringing heavy machinery onto the slab unattractive.
Eight metres out, seventeen metres up
Spider Plus specified the URW-706-2 with a fly jib to buy the extra reach the installation points demanded. In service the crane worked at an installation radius of around 8m while placing panels at heights of up to 17m.
The combination gave the team the vertical reach of a much larger machine within a footprint that fitted the available working area. Set-up remained concentrated around the closed wing, which limited both the ground loading over the basement structure and the visual impact on the parts of the resort still trading.
Load control on architectural panels
Façade work of this type is less about raw capacity than about presentation. Each 600kg GRC panel had to be lifted clear, manoeuvred around a finished building and offered up to the installation crew without damaging either the new panel or the surrounding cladding.
The crane’s fine control allowed the operator to hold and adjust each load through the approach and hand it to the installers at the pace they needed, rather than the crane dictating the sequence.
Spider Plus is the authorised UNIC dealer for the UAE and the wider Middle East, and carried out the crane selection for the project against the site’s access restrictions and structural limits. The job is a fair illustration of where compact crawler cranes earn their keep: refurbishment and recladding work on occupied buildings, where the alternative is either a large mobile crane that cannot get in or a scaffold-and-hoist arrangement that takes far longer to build.
Source: Unic — Photos: Unic
Crane facts
- Crane: UNIC URW-706-2 with fly jib
- Site: BVLGARI Resort, Jumeirah Bay, Dubai
- Contractor: Fibrex Construction Group
- Crane supplier: Spider Plus (UNIC dealer, UAE)
- Load: coral GRC panels, approx. 2m x 2.5m, approx. 600kg each
- Working radius: approx. 8m
- Installation height: up to 17m