February 12 - A huge steel structure has been installed on top of a building as part of the construction of Antwerp Port Authority's striking new headquarters, which were designed by architect Zaha Hadid.
The new building design called for a steel structure to be erected above an existing, and listed, building on the same site, said the port of Antwerp.
The structure is made up of six modules, each measuring about 50 m long, 20 m wide and 6 m high. The first module weighed in at around 378 tonnes, while the other units ranged in weight from 170 to 265 tonnes.
Manufactured by Victor Buyck Steel Construction at its factory in Wondelgem, in the port of Ghent, the modules were transported one-by-one to the construction site at the port of Antwerp by barge.
On arrival, the structures were rolled off the barge using SPMTs, before being lifted by cranes, which were owned and operated by heavy lifting specialist Sarens.
Once installed, the units were attached to one another using temporary joints. In the next few months, final welding work will be carried out to join the pieces together permanently.
Watch a video of the first module being installed below:
More videos of the project are available here: https://www.youtube.com/user/AntwerpPortTV
