Liebherr Tower Cranes Hired for Trump Tower

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Two Liebherr tower cranes work on the Trump Tower in Chicago.

April 2, 2008 • The Trump International Hotel and Tower is currently under construction on North Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Ill. Upon completion in 2009, it will be the second tallest building in Chicago behind the Sears Tower.

Trump Tower equipment subcontractor, James McHugh Construction Company, leased two Liebherr 420 EC-H 16 tower cranes from Morrow Equipment Co., Salem, Ore., for the job. Both cranes are installed in bottom climbing configurations. Crane one had an initial hook height of 219 feet and an estimated final height of 1,236 feet. It has a hook reach of 131 feet. Crane two's initial hook height was 257 feet and will top out at 1,290 feet. The second crane also has a jib reach of 164 feet. The cranes' primary function is to assist in concrete placement. They have been positioned to provide concrete pours wherever it needs to be placed with ease and accuracy.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower will be 1,362 feet tall and contain 96 floors for various uses. The building will contain 2.6 million gross square feet of floor space, rise to 90 stories, and house 472 super-luxury residential condominiums. The tower will also feature a five-star luxury hotel condominium with 286 guest rooms.

The building will temporarily hold the record for the world's highest residence, which has been held since 1969 by Chicago's John Hancock Center. The Chicago Spire, however, is set to break the record of tallest all-residential building upon completion in 2011. The Tower was design by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in December 2001. A subsequent revision in July 2002 resulted in the current established design.

The concrete subcontractor is implementing a comprehensive formwork for the construction of the building. The building will be the tallest formwork structure in the world. Concrete moulding is being used, because using a traditional ironwork structure would require a building footprint that would be too big for the property size, proportional to the height of the designed building. A liquid concrete pump allows each additional floor to be poured by pumping concrete up several hundred feet to the elevating construction site.