Cranes - expert guide
00:00 03 Feb 2008
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The construction sector relies on cranes for a myriad of lifting operations and these come in many guises. On this page we give an overview of the UK crane sector and information on the manufacturers and specialist hirers.
There are five main types of crane:
These can be seen on many city skyline and consist of a vertical lattice tower and are fitted with a horizontal of lifting (luffing) lattice boom. These have the base of the tower concreted into the ground, an operator’s cab next to the jib and usually stay on site for six months or more.
A truck- or trailer-mounted version of a tower crane which ‘unfolds’ itself once it is positioned on the site with the outriggers deployed. Their capacity is lower than the ‘permanent’ items and the operator remains on the ground using a remote control.
These are the multi-wheeled truck-mounted units often seen on the motorways and streets. As the name suggests, these cranes are taken to a site as and when they are needed – usually for short duration jobs.
These are mounted on the type of tracks usually associated with excavators and can be very large or, alternatively, very small for internal use. The large machines are not road-going and are transported to site on several articulated trucks. In most instances they are on site for at least several weeks and are often favoured because of their pick-and-carry ability.
Small units are often used indoors and will (in transport configuration) fit through a standard doorway or in a lift. They are often used in fitting and replacing large glazing and cladding panels much favoured by architects.
Lorry loading cranes:
These are primarily designed to put a load on the lorry bed and take it off again. However their capacity and reach has grown considerably over recent years to a point they can match smaller mobile cranes.
Crane manufacturers:
Effer: truck loading and marine cranes
Hiab: truck loading cranes
Hitachi Sumitomo: crawler cranes
Jost: tower cranes
Kobelco: crawler cranes
Liebherr: mobile, all-terrain, tower and self erecting.
Manitowoc: also operates under the Grove, Potain and National Crane brands manufacturing mobile, all-terrain, crawler, tower, self-erecting and truck cranes.
Mantis: tower, mini crawler and self-erecting cranes
NCK: crawler cranes
Palfinger: truck loading cranes
Sany: crawler cranes
Sennebogen: crawler and mobile cranes.
Spierings: truck mounted self-erecting cranes
Terex: all-terrain, crawler, tower and self-erecting.
Unic Cranes Europe: small crawler cranes
In the UK cranes are usually owned by specialists rental companies or by contractors needing the equipment to facilitate their own projects. The UK’s biggest mobile crane hirer is Ainscough with hundreds of cranes in its fleet with capacities of up to 1,000 tonnes while Laing O’Rourke subsidiary Select Plant has the largest number of tower cranes (over 300, but not all in the UK) followed by Falcon Crane Hire with around 250.
The big name in crawler crane hire is Weldex while contractor Edmund Nuttall has the largest crawler crane fleet for use on its own sites. GGR-Unic has Europe’s biggest hire fleet of mini crawler cranes.