Crane-assisted installation of prefabricated elements involves positioning ready-made building components in their final location using a crane, which lifts them, moves them and guides them into place. It replaces the process of erecting a structure piece by piece on site. Prefabricated walls, ceilings, modules and trusses, and the team’s role is simply to position them precisely on the structure that has been prepared in advance.
The success of such an installation is determined not by the mass of the component itself, but by the relationship between its weight and the crane’s lifting capacity. The further away from the machine’s pivot point the prefabricated element needs to be positioned, the less weight the crane is able to lift. It is often this relationship, rather than the weight itself, that determines the choice of equipment and its positioning on site.
The crane-assisted installation of prefabricated elements also requires appropriate preparation of the ground and careful planning of the sequence in which the individual elements are positioned. Weather conditions and the precision with which the assembly joints are made are also of significant importance. Correct installation helps to minimise the amount of work carried out on site and reduce the risk of operational errors. It also speeds up the transition to the next stages of the building’s construction and finishing.
In timber construction, crane-assisted assembly is slightly different from that used in precast concrete construction. The timber frame modules and roof trusses are considerably lighter, so the lift is shorter and the equipment is usually smaller. It can take just a few days to erect the entire roof using prefabricated trusses. However, the reduced weight does not alter the accuracy requirements. The element must be placed on its supports in accordance with the design, as the subsequent geometry of the building depends on this.
