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Dismantling a tower crane’s counter jib, less than 1m from the glass façade of the 6th and 7th floors of Dubai Marina’s Wharf Tower 1, called for a 500t mobile crane – and a very steady hand on the part of the operator.
Using a rented Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 crane, the driver needed to minimise any swing of the counter jib as it was released.
It was also necessary to immediately lift the jib above a second tower crane working just metres away on the adjacent Wharf Tower 2; before swinging the jib to the transportation area.
The operator’s job was made harder by the site being very tight for what is a physically very large mobile unit.
“The area constriction around the site meant the rig-up was the most difficult aspect of the rental and time consuming,” said Brian Green, Al Faris Rental.
The only available space was the access ramp to the basement level of the adjacent Wharf 2, currently under construction.
In addition to being very uneven, the access gradient required different height settings on each of the crane’s outriggers.
Last week we detailed the very same mobile unit moving a 270t pre-fab steel structure onto a podium. The machine was, and still is, configured with a 42m high boom and a 56m luffing jib and 16t counterweight to provide an almost vertical boom setting.
With a crane capacity of 15.4t at a 68m radius and a hook height of 60m, the operator was able to lift and remove the counter jib with relative ease.
