01. Project
A tower crane and mobile cranes on a tight London hotel site
We looked after the lifting on a new hotel at Lampton Road in Hounslow for a steel contractor. The building went up as a light steel frame, so a Jaso J80PA tower crane stood on the site under our contract lift to feed the frame, mobile cranes came in to erect the tower crane and to offload the deliveries, and a mini crane worked on the slab placing the frame panels as they were erected.
The site sits under Heathrow’s airspace, so the tower crane and the mobile cranes each needed a Heathrow crane permit, and the jib carried a steady red light around the clock. The tower crane was zoned to keep the jib off the neighbouring buildings and parked at a set radius out of service. Space was tight between the frame, the scaffold and the neighbouring car park, and deliveries had to keep coming, so every operation was planned as a contract lift with its own lift plan, appointed person and supervision.
02. 3D View
Explore the lift in 3D
A model of the tower crane going up and then going to work, built to the figures in the installation lift plan. Drag to spin it round and tap a number to see what each part of the job involved. Press Play the lift to watch the mast go up section by section, then the slewing ring, A-frame, counter jib and ballast, the 35m luffing jib lifted in one piece, and the crane setting light steel frame wall panels and floor cassettes storey by storey.
Illustrative model based on our lift plan.
03. Resources
Cranes, tackle and team
Tower Crane
A Jaso J80PA with a 35m jib on a 24m tower, rated at 5te and 1.8te at maximum radius, four fall reeving, with a zoning system, a park radius device and two aircraft warning lights. Out of service it parked at 11m radius. The crane was hired in with its operator and worked under our contract lift.
Erection Crane
A Liebherr LTM 1060-3.1 with 12.8te of counterweight and 41.6m of main boom, on 3m x 1m mats. Mast section, slewing ring, A-frame, counter jib and counter ballast all went up at 10m radius, from 3.7te down to 1.8te, and the 35m front jib went up in one piece at 19m radius.
Mobile Cranes
A Liebherr LTM 1040-2.1 with 6.5te of counterweight and 35m of main boom, offloading steel packs, bundles and rebar at up to 26m radius. A Liebherr LTM 1060-3.1 reaching up to 38m radius and 52m height of lift. A Kato CR-250RV city crane with 12.8te of counterweight and 48m of main boom at 19m radius.
Mini Crane
A Maeda MC285, lifted up to the first floor slab by the tower crane and back down again, placing light steel frame panels in their final position.
Tackle
Two leg chains rated at 4.5te and 7.5te for the tower crane components, leg chains with adjusters 3m and 6m long rated from 3.25te for the offloading, and 2te web slings 3m to 6m long, with timber packing at sharp corners.
Ground and Matting
Outrigger mats of 2.2 x 1.2m for the offloading cranes, at up to 7.05t/m2 ground bearing pressure, and 3m x 1m mats under the erection crane, bringing it down to 11.5t/m2 against a permitted 12t/m2. The tower crane base was cast and signed off before erection, with cube tests, an earth test and a base integrity test.
Permits
Heathrow crane permits for the tower crane and for the mobile cranes working on the site, a CAA notification for the crane height, and a steady red light on the jib day and night.
Team
Our appointed person planned and signed off the lifting, with lift supervisors doubling as slinger signallers, slinger signallers and riggers on site through the erection, the offloading and the dismantle.
04. Timeline
From site visit to dismantling
05. Outcome
What it meant for the client
The steel contractor had one lifting contractor for the whole build: the tower crane on site, the mobile cranes that erected it and offloaded the deliveries, the mini crane on the slab and the paperwork behind all of it, including the Heathrow permits and the CAA notification. Lift plans were written for each activity, so the site could take steel, rebar and materials as they arrived and keep the frame going up.
06. Gallery
Photos from site
Tower crane on the steel-framed build at Lampton Road, Hounslow
Mast section lifted in during the tower crane erection
Tower crane over the first floor steel at Lampton Road, Hounslow
Tower crane mast inside the scaffolded hotel frame