Swiss contractor Marti deployed Switzerland’s tallest crane, a Wolff tower crane with a hook height of 204 meters to raise the country’s tallest building skywards.
The tapering silhouette of the 178m-high Roche Building 1 required a sophisticated crane concept, and the Wolffkran team had to work closely with the project’s logistics specialists and architects.
The solution was found in a Wolff 7532.16 tower crane with a 70-meter saddle jib and maximum tip load capacity of 3.6 tonnes, positioned at the rear of the building.
With the building rising by one level every two weeks, the crane gradually climbed alongside the high-rise to its final tower height of 191.5m, or a hook height of 204m including its portal base.
A second, Wolff 6023.8 was also employed during the construction, and after a certain height was replaced by a Wolff 180 B with a 45 meter jib.
Unlike a trolley jib crane, such compact luffing crane do not have to stand above the building, since they can easily slew past the sides of the building structure thanks to a movable jib that can be raised up- and downwards.
Remo Stoffel, Swiss entrepreneur and chairman of Dubai-based FM company Farnek, also recently unveiled the design for what will be the world’s tallest hotel at 381m, to be located in Vals, in the Swiss Alps.
