JASO in the Grounds of a 12th Century Building: Rebuilding the Keep of Norwich Castle
A J160.10 is being utilised to lift in materials to help with the remodelling of the internal structure of the main tower.
Requirement
The Royal Palace Reborn project features Norwich Castle, a 900-year-old English fortification that currently serves as a museum and art gallery and now seeks to revamp its emblematic Norman keep.
The Castle Keep has undergone many modifications since the original wooden keep (constructed by William the Conqueror in 1067) transforming to a Stone Keep in 1094. The Castle served as a royal residence for 300 years, and was later transformed into a prison for nearly 500 years until the 19th Century. The Norfolk and Norwich museum moved into the Castle Keep in 1885 and has continued to provide an interactive historical experience to visitors until it was closed in 2020 for today’s remodelling.
The castle is now undergoing extensive work to open up all 5 floors of the entire castle from the battlements to the dungeon, to bring visitors closer to the medieval past of this building.
The aim of this work, executed by Morgan Sindall Construction, is to open this building to the public, trying to reproduce as faithfully as possible its medieval past, including its battlements. In addition, it will also house a gallery of artifacts from this period, from the British Museum.
Solution
A J160.10 is involved in this project that seeks to unite the past with the present through Falcon Tower Crane Services, our UK distributor.
This 10-tonne-capacity High Top crane, with a boom of up to 65 meters with a tip load of 1,700 kg, was the perfect choice for this historical reconstruction. The crane, in its current configuration, has a jib length of 45 metres with a tip load of 3,200 kg. The crane towers over Norwich City centre at only 32 metres but sits on a base supported on a 1000 year old constructed mound providing an additional 21 metres of height making it one of the few tall structures in Norwich at a total of 53 meters high.
Among its functions, it will transport materials such as steel and glass and contribute to the remodelling work being carried out on the battlements with the aim of allowing access to future visitors.
Using a crane fitted with all of the latest ‘safe lifting’ technology, is a long way off the original tools and techniques used to construct the Castle 1000 years ago.
