Hird crawler crane wins access challenge at house with a view
Getting a crane into some worksites can be a big challenge – but it helps that Hird has a Maeda CC985S-1 in its crane hire fleet.
The 4.9t crawler crane was just what was needed to install large triple-glazed glass panels in an eye-catching luxury home tucked away down a long, narrow lane.
When completed, the five-bedroom house will provide stunning views across open countryside to Firsby reservoirs between Rotherham and Doncaster, in South Yorkshire.
Tracked crane
But easy access for one of Hird’s mobile cranes, or for a transport truck carrying a spider crane, turned out not to be one of its attributes. That was where Hird’s Maeda CC985S-1, combined with a glass vacuum lifter, came into its own.
The tracked pick and carry crane could be unloaded several hundred metres from the worksite and driven by Hird Appointed Person Chris McArdle to where it was needed to carry out the contract lift.
Once in position, it was used to lift six glazed units up onto the first floor of the house and a glazed lantern up on to the roof, so they could fitted in place by the building contractor.
The new home is being built by Terry Huggett Developments which specialises in building bespoke luxury homes, including ultra-low energy Passivhaus homes. Its projects have featured on TV’s Grand Designs and George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces.
CGI video of house when completed: the ‘flipped’ design – with bedrooms on the ground floor – meant large windows needed to be lifted to the first floor.
Pick and carry
Company director Terry Huggett, said: “Hird did an excellent job. They visited the site before the lift and presented a detailed plan that meant, on the day of the installation, everything went very smoothly, with no hidden problems.
“Hird’s Maeda crawler crane was an excellent lifting solution. It could be used to collect each piece of glass and take it the 20 metres or so distance to install it.
“Also, unlike a mobile crane, it was ideally-suited for the building design we were working to. The large glass panels were floor to ceiling with just a 50mm all-round space tolerance.
“The crawler crane could be used to lift the panels into place from directly in front of the space. This meant we could work with these tight tolerances with greater precision.
“In the circumstances we faced, without the solution provided by Hird, we would have needed a much larger team and probably a stepped scaffold system to raise the glass incrementally into position. It would have taken a lot longer and been much more costly.”
Biggest challenge
Hird Appointed Person Chris, who is based at the Hird Central depot in Doncaster, said: “We were pleased to be able to support Terry and his team. Access was probably the biggest challenge for this project.
“Once the Maeda crawler crane was in position, there was no major problem lifting the panels into place for installation.”
To make the most of the views across to the reservoir and a nearby lake, the house has been built upside down – with living space and a master bedroom on the top floor and four bedrooms on the ground floor.
Hird’s diesel-powered Maeda CC985S-1 was combined with a Kappel DSZ2 glass vacuum lifter to lift the unitised panels into position.
The crawler crane has a maximum safe working load of 4.9t (at a radius of 1.2m), a maximum working height of 16.5m, and a maximum radius of 14.67m.
Given that much of the worksite was on still undeveloped, the crane’s pick and carry capability also came into its own.
Slim vacuum lifter
The Maeda CC985S-1 could pick up the panels from the end of a narrow driveway and carry them to the rear of the property to be installed.
The largest and heaviest panels measured 3m by 3m and weighed just under 400kg each, which the crane and glass vacuum lifter combination selected by Hird could handle with ease.
When set up in its extended format, with 12 suction cups, the DSZ2 has a maximum capacity of 900kg, with 3600 rotation and 900 tilt.
However, for this project, the vacuum lifter was used with its six cup configuration, providing a lifting capacity of 450kg.
The DSZ2 glass vacuum lifter is battery powered and operated with a wired remote control and is ultra-narrow for us in constrained spaces.
Find out more
Talk to Hird about Maeda CC985S-1 crawler crane hire, and many other mini crane hire options, including Maeda spider cranes and Valla pick and carry cranes – combined with a wide range of glass vacuum lifters.
Email: [email protected]