Manitowoc Potains in Milan

A major redevelopment project in Milan, Italy is using six Manitowoc Potain tower cranes.

The Porta Nuova project will renovate three existing neighborhoods on the outskirts of the Italian city. Spread over 290,000 square metres, it includes a series of skyscrapers, piazzas, parks and bridges which will reconnect the districts of Garibaldi, Varesine and Isola.

Lifting work is being managed by Italian contractor Colombo Costruzioni, which is using five Potain MD 208 A and one MD 185 A H8 luffing jib tower cranes. The MD 208 A has a 10 tonne lifting capacity, while the MD 185 A H8 has an 8 tonne capacity, making them the ideal size for the project, said the manufacturer.

"We considered a number of factors when choosing cranes for this project. Lift capacity and hook height were two obvious ones, but we considered factors such as safety, reliability and support. On high-profile projects there are often significant penalties for delays," added Gianfranco Cesana, project director for Colombo Costruzioni.

The cranes are arranged with jib lengths from 35 m to 62.5 m, according to the layout of the site. All of the cranes, apart from one MD 208 A, are working with reduced jib lengths to optimize lift capacity. The largest capacity configurations are for two of the MD 208 A cranes which can lift 10 tonnes at 15 m. Tip loads for the cranes range from 2 tonnes to 4.2 tonnes.

During 12 construction phases, three of the MD 208 A cranes will climb to more than 130 m, with the tallest reaching a height under hook of 196 m. The project required the cranes to reach nearly 200 m, with two falls of rope. They were rigged with nearly 900 m of wire rope.