The Saint-Symphorien Stadium in Metz, France is home to FC Metz Football matches and welcomes more than 25,000 fans at full capacity. When the stadium began construction of its new South Grandstand (Tribune Sud), client Martifer called Sarens in to assemble and install its 250-tonne steel roof structures. 

Installation took place in February and March of 2020 (view the video here), for which Sarens used the following equipment:

• 650T Terex Demag SL3800 crane in SWSL 60m+24m configuration
• 215T ballast on the crane and 325T superlift ballast

Sarens had to carefully plan to account for limited ground pressure combined with full-capacity lifting for the large, 250-tonne steel structures. The crew also faced very high wind speeds on site. These conditions required careful monitoring and follow-up, as a fixed 6-8 hour window was required for the installation of one steel structure.

The SL3800 crane was transported via 60 trucks from another project site at the Gundersheim wind farm in Germany. The crew laid out 430 wooden mats, assembling the 80.9-tonne crane over five days. During assembly, ground preparations by other crews were still ongoing and companies were busy dismantling two tower cranes already on site. This made rigging a challenge for the Sarens crew.

“We loaded and offloaded 15 trucks per day, which is very fast,” says Project Manager Bram Van Overwalle. “Because there were a lot of other activities, like ground preparations and tower crane disassembly, it was a hectic job site. Our team, including an operator and riggers, dealt with it in a very professional and dedicated way.”

With the crane ready for lifting, Sarens proceeded to lift four big steel roof structures, each with a 32-metre radius. The structures weighed 250 tonnes each and measured 51 metres long, 34 metres wide, and 16,5 metres high. They were picked up, rotated 180°, lifted to the correct height, driven by the crawler crane and then installed, all on a very narrow job site. The crew also performed some smaller lifts while on site. 

Sarens is pleased to announce that all lifts were successful, thanks in large part to our experienced team, including one operator and two lifting supervisors. Thank you to everyone who has made this project a success.