Photograph by Oscar Joläng
An MDT 368 tower crane from Potain has been erected on top of a 100 m tall lift shaft on the construction of a hotel in Gothenburg, Sweden. The crane will be a feature of the Gothenburg skyline for the next 18 months as it builds the third tower of the Gothia Towers hotel, which will be one of Europe’s largest hotels upon completion.
The MDT 368 replaces an MDT 268, which was previously tied to the second tower and had a final working height of 92 m. Lift duties for the cranes involve lifting pre-cast concrete, rebar, elevator equipment and glass in loads of up to 16 t.
Jan Heed, managing director of Lambertsson, Potain’s Swedish distributor and the crane rental company that supplied both Potain cranes to the job, said the project required an innovative solution, which is why the company came up with the two crane proposal.
“One free-standing crane would not have the capacity to complete the build and the structure’s design could not withstand the stress for a tied-in crane,” he said. “So we came up with a more creative solution where this solitary tower crane will create the building that it is currently sitting on top of.”
Erecting a tower crane 100 m up presents a number of challenges, particularly when it’s in the middle of a major city nestled among other high-rise buildings and surrounded by busy streets. The operation began with the removal of the free-standing crane and the addition of a lid on the lift shaft for the new MDT 368 to sit on. Once this was complete, the mobile crane that dismantled the smaller Potain crane erected the MDT 368 into place. The three-part operation took five days to complete.
Parking a large mobile crane on a road that carries cars, buses and trams inevitably causes disruption, so time was of the essence to keep traffic delays to a minimum. Logistics were carefully planned to ensure the free-standing crane’s sections were removed efficiently and the new crane’s sections arrived in the right order for erection.
The operator’s journey to the MDT 368’s cab was also a part of the challenge. To avoid a lengthy, and potentially dangerous, ladder climb, Lambertsson installed a crane operator hoist inside one of the hollow lift shafts the crane sits on. Once at the crane’s base, the operator climbs the 15 m mast to access the cab.
As the building takes shape the operator’s view of the pick-up point will become increasingly obstructed. To solve this visibility issue, the MDT 368 is equipped with a camera which offers an in-cab view of the hook. The crane is rigged with an 45 m jib.
Once complete, in the summer of 2014, the Gothia Towers hotel will be the biggest in Scandinavia and among the largest in Europe. The hotel consists of three towers, each of which is connected by buildings at ground level and by bridges 20 stories up.