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Bigfoot Crane tackles Nanaimo, B.C. residential project with self-erecting Liebherr machine

NANAIMO, B.C. – Abbotsford, B.C.’s Bigfoot Crane is constructing the Departure Bay apartment complex outside of Nanimo, B.C. for Westurban Developments Ltd. with help from a Liebherr 81 K.1 fast-erecting crane.

The complex nature of the project and tight operational conditions required Bigfoot to plan ahead in terms of both project operations and crane removal.

“It’s easy to get a crane onto site when there isn’t a building yet. But additional challenges arise once the building is erected because of its structure. When we’re planning a project, we always start by looking at how to remove the crane at the end,” said Cale Anderson, managing director at Bigfoot Crane. “As well as the challenges on site requiring the right equipment, we also needed a team willing to find creative and innovative solutions.”

The project’s tight conditions, with the completed building obstructing pathways to standard dismantling procedures, required a large Libeherr mobile crane to be used to safely set the 81 K.1 at the other side of the building for disassembly.

Liebherr’s 81 K.1 has a maximum lifting capacity of 6,000 kilograms, with a jib head lifting capacity of 1,350 kilograms. The machine can reach a maximum radius of 48 metres and has a maximum hook height of 38.9 metres.

This hook height, combined with the 81 K.1’s 2.4 metre tower sections allowed Bigfoot Crane to maintain the necessary distances for safety between other cranes and buildings in the vicinity, in addition to allowing it to slew above and below other cranes, the company said.