Independent lifting from GGR

When extra lifting capacity was needed on a London office block construction site, roof-mounted GGR Unic mini cranes provided the solution.

GGR supplied three modified Unic 706 mini cranes to assist CMF Ltd in the UK with the installation of stairwell towers at the St Botolph's office development in Aldgate High Street. The project took six months to complete earlier in 2009.

The mini cranes were supplied to erect the supporting steel framework attached to the lift cores containing emergency stairs for the 13 storey structure. With the existing tower cranes and external lifts operating at maximum capacity, architectural structural steel contractor CMF needed independent lifting equipment to install the stair towers.

Lack of street space meant that the cranes were mounted on top of the four towers, looking down on the streets of London. They were secured by specially designed sockets which allowed the feet of the outriggers to slot in. The cranes were operated by remote control.

Philip Clarke, contracts manager at CMF, comments, "When faced with installing the stairwell towers we were unsure what equipment would be able to complete the job. The lack of street space in central London can cause real problems for jobs like these but, after working with GGR's expert technical team, we were able to come up with a solution allowing GGR's mini spider cranes to be easily located on top of the towers and operated remotely."

Graeme Riley, GGR chief executive officer, says, "The St Botolph's job has proved just how useful GGR's mini cranes are when working in restricted access environments."

The GGR Group consists of four brands: GGR Glass, GGR Unic, GGR Galizia and GGR AirLift. It is a leading supplier of vacuum handling equipment, restricted access lifting machinery and mini cranes. It has been in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 for two years.