WHEN CRANES FLY When New York City space constraints limit crane construction options, set your sights sky-high By Jon Skinner, PE
crane space that would not take a large footprint and minimize road closures for the duration of the build. Taking space, time, and budget into consideration, McLaren Engineer - ing Group’s construction team turned to unconventional methods of crane engineering to figure out how to work within NYC’s tight build - ing constraints. The solution was as iconic as the retail brand itself: a crane would pick up another crane and fly it atop the Tiffany & Co. building in the heart of Midtown where it would commence work on the build. The lift of an LTM 1130 mobile crane was engineered onto the roof of Tiffany’s utilizing a giant 500-ton Liebherr LTM 1500 crane. The fully assembled LTM 1500 (utilizing the y-guy superlift kit) required eight trucks delivering over 363,800 lbs of counterweight. As a result, McLaren also provided the crane engineering for a Tadano TR450XL that assisted in putting the LTM 1500 together. With speed and cost in mind, the team provided crane plans, permitting, and the structural
A monumental crane lift to support Tiffany & Co.’s iconic flagship retail store renovation took place to expand the landmark 1940 Art Moderne building on Fifth Avenue. The luxury brand, currently under - going a holistic, multi-year upgrade, sought to replace a former 1980s vertical rooftop expansion that housed three levels of office space with a new tri-story modern addition. Designed with double-height and column-free spaces wrapped in two different glass facades, the newly constructed addition would create more interest from the street while maintaining energy efficiency. However, constructing this in the heart of the congested City would require innovative solutions to configure
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