Bernhard Heiliger – one of Germany’s foremost sculptors in the post-war era – made his “Große Vegetative Skulptur” sculpture in 1955. One of five true-to-the-original copies of his masterwork had been on display in an inner courtyard at the University Hospital Heidelberg until recently. However, since the surrounding buildings were scheduled to undergo extensive renovations, the five-tonne sculpture had to be relocated from its ancestral home to the sculpture park at the Heidelberg University Orthopedic Clinic due to safety reasons. Lampertheim-based Weiland Kran & Transport GmbH was hired as a “moving company” for the job, and used a Tadano duo in the form of an AC 5.160-1 and an AC 6.300-1 to take care of it.
“This job was our brand new AC 6.300-1’s debut,” reports crane operator Alonso Domenico, who had to lift the sculpture out from the inner courtyard with the crane. The machine arrived on site ready for operation with an 80-meter main boom including hook block, all within the 12-ton axle load limit. This significantly reduced the permitting effort. Thanks to its transport-optimized counterweight configurations, the AC 6.300-1 is extremely flexible and was configured and used by Weiland as a 250-ton crane for this lift. It was still powerful enough to lift the five-ton, nearly two-meter-tall sculpture.
“An absolute jewel”
“The AC 6.300-1 is an extremely versatile machine that’s incredibly well-suited to this type of lift: With its 80-meter main boom and solid load chart, it’s simply the perfect crane for efficient work at height and work requiring a long reach,” Alonso Domenico explains. And a long reach was definitely needed for this job, since the main challenge was the distance at which the lift had to be carried out: As mentioned previously, the sculpture was in an inner courtyard, meaning that the AC 6.300-1 had to lift the load, which weighed approximately five tonnes when including its base and protective wood paneling, at a radius of over 40 meters while clearing a height of eight meters to avoid the surrounding buildings. Not only that, but it had to do so while relying exclusively on signalpersons – none of which was a problem for the highly experienced Weiland team and its AC 6.300-1. “This assignment revealed that the AC 6.300-1 is an absolute jewel in terms of its controls and operation. It worked incredibly well – just like we’d expected,” Alonso Domenico says, full of praise for the crane. Just as planned, he removed the sculpture from the inner courtyard, moved it across the roof of the buildings in the way, and gently set it down upright behind a transportation truck that was already waiting. The sculpture was then laid down in a horizontal position on the ground and lifted onto the truck’s platform.
Lift at new location with custom AC 5.160-1
The truck then took the sculpture to the sculpture park at the Heidelberg University Orthopedic Clinic in Schlierbach, where Weiland crane operator Thomas Eisenberg was already waiting with his uniquely custom Tadano AC 5.160-1. More specifically, the crane features a custom counterweight system that Tadano added to the crane on Weiland’s request and that makes it possible to use the five-axle machine as a taxi crane with 8.5 tonnes of counterweight while remaining under the 12-tonne axle load limit. “The system was perfect for this job, since the AC 5.160-1 was more than powerful enough to take care of the load and the required radius with its partial counterweight configuration,” Thomas Eisenberg explains.
He then goes on to add that he can say good things about his AC 5.160-1 all day: “The crane’s controls are incredibly sensitive, the unit itself handles like a dream, and operating Tadano machines is simply a remarkable experience,” the expert crane operator explains. In addition, perfect weather and zero wind meant that it was the perfect day for the job: With his AC 5.160-1, he was able to easily lift the sculpture out of the truck, swung it into position above the place that had been excavated for the base at a radius of 28 meters, and then set it down with pinpoint accuracy.
Relocated in a single day
The job lasted a total of eight hours. Uwe Behrendt, the project manager at the Vermögen und Bau Baden-Württemberg state-owned enterprise responsible for the project, was more than satisfied: “Everything went perfectly smoothly – which to be honest is always the case when Weiland takes care of a job for us.”
