The heavy lifting crane

London’s largest crane is now ready to begin work on site at Earls Court as demolition of the former exhibition centre is complete. The Earls Court development, led by Capital and Counties Properties PLC will create 8000 homes and 10,000 new jobs as well as a new High Street and a new five-acre park in London.

The crane is the most visible part of the important site preparation that will take place throughout 2017 to prepare the site for future construction. The heavy lifting crane is an industry-leading innovation and was designed and manufactured by specialist engineering firm, ALE. The crane will carefully lift 61 ‘portal beams’ out from under the London Underground lines that supported the former exhibition centre.

The crane was specifically chosen as the optimum engineering solution and the method has been designed to minimise the impact on local residents, to help reduce the carbon footprint of the project and significantly shorten the project timescales.

The crane is 120 m high, which is more than twice the height of Nelson’s Column and is the largest capacity lifting crane ever to be used in London. The crane will operate only on the Earls Court site and will not over sail any of the nearby properties.