Two Scopes, Two Cranes, One Campus

For two distinct but coordinated construction efforts at the Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, central to both jobsites are two Potain tower cranes. The major campus expansion at the sprawling medical facility includes a new six-story parking garage and an addition to the facility’s main hospital building. Included are four elevators, three stair towers, and a skywalk.

The Manitowoc brand Potain tower cranes for the dual hospital jobsites are being supplied by Reynolds Rigging & Crane Service out of Deforest, Wisconsin, which is also providing in house planning, assembly, disassembly, and crane operations for both projects.

With limited laydown area inside an active healthcare campus, noted Nathanael Reynolds, vice president of Reynolds Rigging & Crane Service, the Potain tower cranes reduce reliance on ground staging and minimize the site footprint. “The overriding goal is to complete construction with zero disruption to hospital operations,” he said. “From the start, we understood the importance of sequenced trucking, assembly, and dismantle to protect day-to-day hospital activity.”

Project One

The new parking structure at the Froedtert Hospital site is being served by a Potain MD 559. The tower crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 22 tons, a maximum reach/radius of 262 feet, and a peak hook height of 218 feet.

The garage was designed, and its construction sequenced around a centrally placed Potain MD 559 so one crane could cover its footprint, Reynolds related. This approach reduced the number of cranes and equipment on campus and simplified site circulation. “Once the MD 559 was erected at the heart of the garage footprint, it became the workhorse of the project, supporting every stage of construction from early concrete work through finishing tasks,” Reynolds said.

On the parking structure site, the MD 559 is lifting and setting large precast planks, heavy rebar bundles, curtain wall frames, and site elements such as light poles and masonry. When the structure is complete, the crane pad will be repurposed to house a snow-melt system.

With a 900,000-square-foot footprint and multiple structural complexities, smaller cranes simply wouldn’t have been able to meet the demands of the garage build, Reynolds noted. Instead, the MD 559 offered the reach and lifting capacity in a single machine and has been a key factor in keeping the project on schedule.

Project Two

The Froedtert Hospital main building project has been supported by a Potain MD 569 tower crane. For the facility expansion, the crane is handling a number of demanding picks.

The 27.6-ton capacity MD 569 crane manages 8-ton lifts for elevators and stair towers, 4-ton bundles of reinforcing steel, and daily steel placements. Reynolds credits its ability to pull materials directly from the corners of the site with keeping the addition on pace with minimal staging area, ensuring the new hospital wing and its skywalk connection advance smoothly within the constraints of the active campus.

Key Role

Both tower cranes supplied by Reynold are now playing a pivotal role on the Froedtert Hospital campus projects. The company provided location studies and engineered lift plans, and handles all assembly and dismantling work, trucking, and scheduling, and they supplied a seven-axle mobile crane.

Reynolds also supplies the operators who keep the cranes running, and coordinates closely with both general contractors to ensure the projects stay on schedule. By managing every aspect of the lifting package internally, Reynolds noted, we can deliver a seamless process that reduces handoffs, safeguards hospital access, and ensures that the two major projects advance in tandem.

“Our job is to take complexity off the table,” Reynolds said. “By handling assembly, dismantling, lift planning, trucking, and operators, we give both contractors a single point of accountability and the confidence of having cranes that perform exactly as planned.”