Liebherr LTM 1150-5.3 allows hotel to stay open during construction work

A required radius of 65 metres, an underground tunnel system and a very compact footprint were the challenges faced by the crane company Steil Kranarbeiten GmbH & Co. KG, based in Trier. At a hotel complex on the Schlossberg in Homburg, considerable amounts of material had to be lifted over the building and moved to its opposite side to construct a 220-square-metre terrace.

However, due to the 17th century tunnels running under the site, it was not possible to position the mobile crane close to the construction site. "With the LTM 1150-5.3, we have exactly the right mobile crane that can meet these requirements with its large radius, while also leaving enough space for hotel guests and delivery vehicles," explains Frank Nicklas, head of Steil's Saarwellingen branch.

Nicklas had carefully planned the job on the Schlossberg in advance. In doing so, he was able to draw on the company's impressive range of vehicles. Steil's yellow-painted fleet comprises around 120 cranes, including mobile and crawler cranes as well as some mobile construction and special cranes. When he first looked over this job with its small set-up area, Frank Nicklas quickly realised that the LTM 1150-5.3, which was based at the company's headquarters in Trier, would be ideal for use on the Schlossberg in Homburg. A check in the LICCON work planner confirmed his assessment. Several weeks later, the Liebherr mobile crane was fighting its way up the steep serpentine road with gradients of up to 15 per cent to the summit of the Schlossberg in Homburg.

With VarioBase^®, each crane support can be positioned individually

"Without the options that VarioBase® offers us, we wouldn't have been able to complete the job in this format. No chance," explains the branch manager on site. "We would have had another 160-tonne mobile crane from another manufacturer available, but we couldn't have set it up under these conditions because of the less convenient outriggers." Jörg Schmidt, the driver of the new 5-axle crane, had to extend each of the four outriggers to different lengths to create enough room for cars and delivery trucks to pass through.

With the fixed double folding jib angled at 40 degrees and the 66-metre boom almost fully extended, around 150 lifts were completed over a period of two weeks. Steel girders weighing up to one tonne hung from the crane hook, which were then installed on the other side of the hotel complex. Precise load handling by the crane driver was essential, as most of the construction elements were mounted in a suspended position.

Should another job come along for which the LTM 1150-5.3 is the ideal machine, Frank Nicklas will no longer have to ask his colleagues in Trier for a favour. In September, the crane and heavy load company with 250 employees and locations in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Luxembourg will take delivery of another crane of this type. And this particular Liebherr mobile crane will then be stationed at the Frank Nicklas branch in Saarwellingen.