Irish Crane & Lifting has supplied Walls Construction with three 24-tonne T577 flat-tops, the heaviest lifters in its rental fleet, plus two MRT294s for Southwest Gate
Building more than 1,100 homes in one go puts a lot of weight on the tower cranes, literally. At Southwest Gate in Dublin 12, much of that weight comes as precast elements, and the contractor needed cranes that could place them at the far end of the jib.
Walls Construction, one of Ireland’s leading building contractors, has deployed five Raimondi tower cranes on the project. They were supplied on rental by Irish Crane & Lifting, Raimondi’s official dealer in Ireland for more than two decades.
Capacity at the tip
The fleet on site includes three new Raimondi T577 flat-tops and two MRT294 tower cranes. The T577s are the first of their type for Walls Construction and, with a 24-tonne maximum capacity, they are now the heaviest lifters in Irish Crane & Lifting’s portfolio.
They work at heights between 48 and 61 metres with 50-metre jibs. In UltraLift mode they carry a tip load of 12.38 tonnes, and they handle elements of up to 10 tonnes at the jib end. The hoisting gear is rated at 110 kW, with a top line speed of 110 metres per minute and a drum capacity of 1,030 metres.
“The T577s were selected for their exceptional tip loads, optimised load charts and ease of commissioning, making the cranes particularly well suited to the project’s demanding lifting requirements,” said Robert Coffey, Director of Irish Crane & Lifting.
The two MRT294 cranes, rated at 16 tonnes, are configured with 40-metre jibs at heights of 38 and 40 metres.
Installed in three phases
The cranes went up in three stages between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the third quarter of 2026, following the progress of the multi-phase development. For a contractor, that means crane capacity arrives when each part of the site needs it, rather than all at once.
The relationship between the two companies goes back more than ten years. “For over 10 years, we have been working alongside Walls Construction on some of the country’s most significant developments, including College Square, Grand Canal Harbour, and Rathborne Wharf,” Coffey said. He described the rental of the five machines as “another important milestone” in that collaboration.
A landmark for Dublin
Southwest Gate is being delivered by O’Flynn Group in partnership with the Land Development Agency. Once complete, it will combine retail and commercial space with more than 1,100 new homes, making it one of the largest single residential schemes built in Ireland’s capital. With housing high on the Irish political agenda, projects of this scale are likely to keep heavy precast, and the cranes that lift it, in demand.
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