Liebherr tower cranes in action erecting the highest building in Europe

The Lakhta Tower designed by British architects RMJM at a height of 462m will primarily be home to the head office of energy group Gazprom. It will also provide other office space, sports facilities, a technical park for children, a planetarium, a panoramic restaurant, a viewing terrace and much more on the 330,000m² site. Currently the core for the first 35 storeys has already been completed.

Particularly powerful large cranes are required for a tower with such an enormous height. The 710 HC-L 32/64 Litronic has a maximum lifting capacity of 64t, making it the largest luffing jib crane available from Liebherr. All three 710 HC-L cranes are equipped with innovative 2 x 110kW Dual Drive SD.shift hoist units and 160kW luffing gear which enables hoist speeds of up to 176m/min to be achieved. These cranes are all climbing on the outside of the building while the 357 HC-L 12/24 Litronic is climbing inside it. The latter crane features a 110kW hoist unit.

The three Liebherr 710 HC-L 32/64 Litronic luffing jib cranes are in action with radii of 45m, 50m and 60m. This enables them to cover the site perfectly and build the heavy steel skeleton for the tower. Using the 24 HC 1000 and 24 HC 1250 tower systems the cranes are climbing over 400m on the outside of the building with one of the luffing jib cranes being responsible for positioning the top of the tower at a tower height of approximately 440m. The 357 HC-L 12/24 Litronic has been assembled on a 500 HC tower system. This crane is working towards the others and is primarily responsible for concreting the core of the building.

The Lakhta Tower is scheduled to be completed in 2018 when its height of 462m and 87 storeys will make it the highest building in Europe. That will make it higher, for example, than the Federation Tower in Moscow in whose construction Liebherr also played a leading role. In addition to the performance of the cranes themselves and the good preparation and monitoring of the project by the Tower Crane Solutions Department, this is one of the reasons why contractor Renaissance Construction and rental company Sutek chose Liebherr cranes.

The Lakhta Towers complex will also include a multi-purpose building which will house a planetarium, cinema and theatre among other facilities. Several Liebherr tower cranes are also in action erecting this building. To ensure that the cranes can slew freely even in constricted conditions, three 357 HC-L 12/24 Litronic cranes were combined with three 280 EC-H 12 Litronic High-Top cranes. The customer's requirement was that the cranes should be assembled on the building without guying. This is why Tower Crane Solutions planned tower combinations which make a free-standing height of up to 95m possible.