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The quarterly Rider Levett Bucknall Crane Index shows strong growth in the number of cranes in operation across North American cities, as new projects get underway and a number of large projects continue to march their way toward completion. The July 2019 survey summary explains... View full entry
Seattle’s construction frenzy turned deadly Saturday afternoon when a tower crane working on a new Google campus fell like a thunderbolt from the roof of a South Lake Union building, smashing into six cars and killing four people. — The Seattle Times
"The four-building, 607,000-square-foot project will house a new Google Seattle campus, and also include about 150 new apartments," reports The Seattle Times about the tragic incident at a South Lake Union site at Fairview Avenue and Mercer Street. "Construction began in 2017 and is set to be... View full entry
With industrial robotics forecast to be worth $71.72 billion by 2023, it’s no wonder entrepreneurs are turning their attention to increasingly lucrative sectors, like warehouse automation, order fulfillment, and manufacturing.
Tel Aviv-based Intsite is one of the latest examples. The startup today announced a $1.35 million pre-seed round led by Terra Venture Partners and the Israel Innovation Authority to fund what it claims is the world’s first autonomous crane technology.
— Venture Beat
Image: IntsiteAI-powered autonomous construction technology is poised to see enormous growth in the coming years, promising to significantly increase efficiency, cut costs & realization time, and reduce human errors as well as workplace-related injuries. "According to McKinsey, about... View full entry
In 2016, a Manhattan crane collapse in Tribeca killed one person, seriously injured two others and left another with minor injuries. Workers were trying to secure the crane against winds by lowering the boom when the crane collapsed to the ground. The accident was caused by a series of operator... View full entry
Ever wanted to spend a night in an industrial relic while not missing out on luxurious amenities? Then THE KRANE, a converted coal crane in Copenhagen's Nordhavn, is just your kind of thing. The multi-tiered structure sports a reception area on the ground floor (a designated concierge car meets... View full entry
The wildly swinging booms of three cranes at under-construction residential buildings in South Florida bent and collapsed in Hurricane Irma’s heavy winds Sunday. [...]
The cranes are a symbol of the luxury real estate development that drives South Florida’s economy, attracting millions of dollars in foreign investment, even as home prices soar out of reach for locals. The construction industry has fought against stricter regulation of the towering cranes.
— Miami Herald
While the whole extent of destruction that Hurricane Irma caused throughout Florida, Georgia, and various islands of the northern Caribbean in the past few days is still not entirely clear, the strength of the storm can be adumbrated by the three construction cranes that collapsed in the greater... View full entry
As cranes have grown in height and girth, the controls to operate them have intensified in number and complexity...the crane units in use these days have libraries of intricate manuals, packed with details...some operators may not have time to fully understand or read completely. Same goes for the maintenance team. When something does go wrong with such large machines...the 'mess and carnage' gets magnified. — Popular Mechanics
Crane safety experts give their thoughts on the leading causes of crane collapses, and why safety regulation is more complex than it seems.Previous news about collapses:Crane collapses in Manhattan, one dead and two seriously injuredMore than 50 dead after crane collapses on Mecca's Grand Mosque... View full entry
The Associated Press reported that the person killed was a Wall Street worker sitting in a parked car. [...]
The accident happened as workers were trying to secure the crane against winds around 20 mph by lowering the boom, which had been extended to as long as 565 feet the day before, officials said. Because the crane was being lowered, workers were directing pedestrians away from it on a street that otherwise would likely have been teeming with people.
— npr.org
A couple of nearby construction workers took video of the collapse on a cellphone – you can watch that here. View full entry
At least 52 people were killed when a crane crashed in Mecca’s Grand Mosque on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority said on its Twitter account.It said 30 people were injured.
The Muslim annual Haj pilgrimage is due later this month and Saudi authorities go to great lengths to be prepared for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca.
— theguardian.com
The cranes are going up all over universities. A new student village here, an extension to the business school there, airy atria everywhere, even a scattering of 'iconic' or 'signature' buildings aspiring to be on shortlists for architectural awards. Higher education is investing unprecedented amounts in infrastructure – for good and necessary reasons but maybe for bad ones too. — The Guardian
UCL Institute of Education professor Peter Scott comments on the rising trend of English universities leaning toward what he describes as "American habits" at a time when universities are investing greatly in campus construction. Scott lists promising reasons like the upgrading and preservation of... View full entry
While Renzo Piano's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens (SNFCC) is still under construction, it didn't keep the first performance from being staged last Wednesday on the site. Based on Renzo Piano's own idea, the Greek National Orchestra scored a 15-minute "dance" performance... View full entry
Cranes that have helped to build the Shanghai Tower, China's tallest building and the world's second tallest, are seen being dismantled. — telegraph.co.uk
When I walked out to get breakfast this morning, clouds had obscured all but the topmost workings of the 1 World Trade Center site, visible through our living room window—a strange vision of machines, pulleys, cranes, and gears sort of hovering in the sky, like something out of Archigram by way of Hayao Miyazaki. — bldgblog.blogspot.com
The moment whereby a burning crane which caught fire on a construction site snapped and fell on top of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) building on Broadway in inner Sydney this morning has been caught on tape.
A video, which was filmed by a passer-by and supplied to Channel Nine, shows the upper portion of the crane above the main boom tip collapsing onto the building rooftop.
— DesignBuild Source
A crane attached to One57, the luxury apartment tower under construction in midtown Manhattan, partially collapsed amid gusts from Hurricane Sandy. [...]
One57, poised to be the tallest residential property in Manhattan at 90 stories, is being developed by Extell Development Co. A penthouse at the building went under contract earlier this year for more than $90 million.
— businessweek.com
