City life in Milan
Full concentration for the installation of a giant illuminated sign over 100 metres in the air – technicians from Italian Liebherr dealer Niederstätter erected a tower crane for this purpose in spring 2018 on one of the highest and best-known tower blocks in Milan. Liebherr’s Tower Crane Solutions provided advice and assistance for planning this spectacular job.
The 170-metre high “Torre Hadid” in Milan (also known as “Lo Storto” – the Twisted One) was designed by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The tower block is now owned by insurance group Generali, which wanted to install a giant illuminated sign on the building. In the search for a suitable tower crane for this job, contractor C.M.B. (Cooperativa Muratori e Braccianti di Carpi) consulted Liebherr Tower Cranes.
The crane had to be erected by helicopter at an altitude of 170 metres.
The challenge was that the crane had to be erected by helicopter at an altitude of 170 metres.
The main challenge was to erect and anchor the crane on the roof of the building. The experts at Liebherr’s Tower Crane Solutions Department created the perfect solution for this together with the engineers from Niederstätter AG – erecting a 85 EC-B by helicopter. The bottom tower section was placed on so-called anchor shoes, which in turn were connected to the concrete roof on the tower block. This meant that neither the crane undercarriage nor central ballasts slabs had to be transported upwards.
At dawn on the day of the crane erection, a heavy-duty helicopter from Heliswiss rose from the ground to take the first section of the 85 EC-B from the Niederstätter AG rental park to a height of 170 metres. After several flights over the ourse of two and a half hours, the service technicians had completely erected the Liebherr towercrane. The hoisting work was started immediately after the crane had been commissioned and the personnel had received induction training. Around 200 tonnes of steel had to be moved for the installa- tion of the giant illuminated sign. After a construction period of around two months, the tower crane and anchor shoes were removed – again by helicopter.
Hundreds of passers-by watched the crane being erected live – an extraordinary spectacle in the centre of Italy’s fashion capital for which our long-term partner Niederstätter provided sterling work.
