Hoisting works of art, an art in itself!

For the redevelopment of the Leiden Ring North, Boskalis Nederland is carrying out a road diversion of the Plesmanlaan on behalf of the municipality of Leiden. To make this possible, De Wit’s six steel works of art had to be moved to a new location on Plesmanlaan.

Verschoor’s expertise was called in for this purpose. No individual weights of the works of art were known, only the total weight of all the works of art together. Our work planners have calculated the weights per object and, based on this, drawn up a lifting plan with the most efficient machines. Two of our 150-tonners were deployed for the lifting, both equipped with spreaders and chain hoists to enable the objects to be lifted level.

For the transport of the works of art, with heights varying between 6 and 9 metres, transport company W. Van der Meijden assisted us with a so-called inloader. This was loaded with extra ballast to lower the center of gravity. The transport distance was approximately 300 meters, after which the second crane unloaded the works of art and placed them on a new foundation.

In order to limit the inconvenience on this busy access road to Leiden as much as possible, the work was planned over three nights. However, thanks to good preparation and cooperation on location, all works of art were moved in two nights!

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Photography: Jeannet Koomans
Video: Frank Tel