Sommer installs components for stairwell using Liebherr LTM 1450-8.1

Liebherr LTM 1450-8.1 mobile crane assembles components weighing up to 20 tonnes with a radius of up to 48 metres.

Überseestadt in Bremen is developing into a widely diverse mixed use area. In addition to services, offices, trade, port economy and logistics, it includes leisure, culture and residential sites.

A special project is giving the head of the Europahafen a whole new look – Bremen-based entrepreneur Kurt Zech is erecting four buildings with a total floor area of 100,000 square metres and a total investment volume of 300 million euros. When they have been completed, they will provide space for 340 rental apartments, 20 shops, a restaurant and an enormous market hall. It is scheduled to open at the start of 2022. The highest building in the complex dominates the skyline with its 18 storeys and has become known as the “Zech-Haus”. 

For three days at the start of February, a 450 tonne mobile crane joined the giant tower cranes which have made the silhouette of Europahafen such a striking image since the construction project was started. Crane specialist Sommer erected the 8-axle Liebherr LTM 1450-8.1 mobile crane with 134 tonnes of ballast and a 52.5 metre luffing lattice jib. Crane operator David Hartung carefully threaded the prefabricated staircases and other components into the building and placed them gently in the positions that had been prepared for them.

“A great team and a fantastic crane – everything went smoothly”, reports Hartung with satisfaction. However, the constricted site posed a special challenge for using the crane. Andreas Meyer, Dispatcher at Sommer Kranverleih, explains: “The position for the large crane was extremely restricted with scaffolds being a particular obstruction. Fortunately, the ballast radius of the LTM 1450-8.1 can be reduced to handle these situations. Without VarioBallast we would have had no chance”. 

The ballast radius on the Liebherr 450 tonne crane can be adjusted infinitely between five and seven metres using a simple hydraulic slewing mechanism. VarioBallast is a massive benefit on constricted sites. For example, a radius of five metres is the sort of value you would expect from mobile cranes in the 200-tonne class. 

Zech Group SE is a global medium-sized enterprise with family ownership. Gustav Zech founded a construction company in 1909 near Wrocław in what is now Poland, thus laying the foundation for the Zech Group. After the Second World War, the company restarted in 1945 in the form of a small craft company in Bremen. Today the group controls a number of branch offices and subsidiaries in several European countries from its Hanseatic headquarters. 

Sommer Kranverleih GmbH was awarded the order to install components weighing up to 20 tonnes for the “Atrium Bridge”, a connecting stairwell inside the building complex, using a radius of up to 48 metres. This family-run company was founded in Bremen in 1957 and the third generation of the family is now in control. Its portfolio includes mobile cranes with lifting capacities of up to 800 tonnes, heavy haulage and equipment relating to crane and transport services.