Since topping out a final height of 58 storeys back in 2013, the curving profile of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-designed L-Tower has been marked by the presence of a tower crane fixed to the building's east facade. The crane has remained in place ever since, and was most recently utilized for the installation of the tower's building maintenance unit, as well as a temporary derrick occupying a temporary platform near the tower's pinnacle. 

Cityzen Development Group, Fernbrook Homes and Castlepoint Numa's flagship development embarked on a long-awaited construction milestone earlier today, as the long-anticipated removal of the building's tower crane began high above the intersection of Scott Street and the Esplanade.

First signs of crane removal for the L Tower, image by Forum contributor harry_fine

The first sign of the crane removal was spotted by Forum contributor harry_fine early this afternoon, who captured the crane's uppermost mast section being removed (above).

Crane after the removal of the first mast section, image by Jack Landau

A red-painted steel jacket was installed around the top mast section and secured to the load above, allowing the section to be slid out, after which the crane and the attached red lattice self-lower to line up with the mast section below, where the process is then repeated.

A white mast section after being removed, image by Jack Landau

The individual mast sections—each roughly two storeys in height—will be removed one at a time as the crane lowers itself towards the Scott and Esplanade intersection below. While the operation is far too gradual in nature to be efficiently documented with photography, a short GIF captured over the course of a half hour helps to illustrate the process of the crane incrementally lowering itself.

L Tower crane removal, image by Jack Landau

The removal of the tower crane could take a few days to complete, and we would love to see more photos of the process. You can share your images of the crane removal in the project's Forum thread, linked below.

In the meanwhile, additional details including building facts, renderings, and floor plans can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or add your voice to the comments section provided at the bottom of this page.