Why do London cranes look like the one on the left, but in most other major cities, look like the one on the right?

by urbexed

20 comments

  1. I’ve literally never seen the one on the left. And I’ve lived in London for over 20 years

  3. Less space to swing the main arm, so they make use of the joint in the middle, meaning the counterweight is closer to the central frame?

  6. Clearance is the primary consideration for determining tower crane types.

    In London, the most common type of crane is known as a [luffing jib crane](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0671/6768/2798/files/109637_109637-potain_mcr_160_480x480.jpg?v=1701952483), not necessarily the climbing type on the left. Luffing jib cranes have two main advantages: they can be packed closer together with tighter turning radii and they can be raised and lowered independently. This makes them preferable for irregular and tight construction sites common in London as well as other dense cities, such as New York and Sydney.

    On the other hand, [hammerhead cranes](https://www.terex.com/images/librariesprovider10/default-album/terex-sk-452-20-hammerhead-tower-crane-showing-full-jib036d8220-bedb-43d7-965d-b40ecc0e3e1a.jpg?sfvrsn=e2090666_25) such as those on the right are found where this is less of an issue and the imperative is to be able to quickly move materials across a wide site. These are common in Paris and many other continental European cities with uniform roof heights and generally larger development sites in large-scale regeneration areas.

  7. It’s usually to do with cost and time constraints of agreeing oversailing rights.

  8. Crane shape is driven by where the supply base is. the more horizontal – the further away the supply base is. The more vertical the nearer the supply base.

  9. No big deal, there are tablets that can help with these things these days

  10. You can always tell the richness of a city by the amount of cranes in use.

  11. The one on the left with the swan neck is a raptor crane, which is hardly ever used in London, although they are getting more popular. We primarily use luffing jib cranes, instead of the saddle jib cranes (photo on the right). Reason is because you can’t oversail other people’s land unless you get specific licenses which can be a ball ache to get, and if the crane drops something on their land, that’s a whole other story. Luffing jib cranes mean you don’t oversail other people’s land, they are perfect on sites with a small footprint, whereas saddle jib cranes are good for large sites.

  12. There is plenty of both. I counted over 50 cranes from a roof I was on in Central.London once.

  14. Because sites in London a typically much tighter so the crane over sail over neighbouring properties can be limited.

    Also logistically makes more sense on a. Smaller siite

  15. Most of them actually look like the one on the right. From my wife’s flat I can see nearly 100 and almost all.of them are the standard tower crane.

    The folding jib ones are for tight spaces. Which to be fair is pretty damn common in London.

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