There’s a tower crane perched on the top of that pointy thing on the right of the river.
That means it’s on top of a 1008ft tall building, so the operator must be sitting in a little box around 1030ft up.
I know those blokes earn good money, but how many on here would be happy with that as their ‘office’ every day?
Not at all sure I could even climb up there. Fabulous view, though.

Is that a view from your office ?

What company building is it going to be for?

Got any more pix up close.

Did you read about that fox what got right up to the top, and was surviving on builder’s discarded scraps? Cheeky little bugger! 😀

That’s gonna look great when it’s finished. It’s bloody huge already!

I woon’t want to go up in one of those cranes. I’d just want to come down again.

Pardon my ignorance but I left London a while ago and it wasn’t there then. It seems to be located near Ken’s testicles, would it be Boris’s pillar?

Nowt to do with Boris. Was planned well before he came into office.

No doubt he’ll try and claim some sort of recognition for it when it’s done though, as he has done with just about every other project in London, the shyster.

I ain’t gettin on no crane, fool !!

What about top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai? 2000+ft 😯

How about dismantling a chimney from the top down using an excavator lifted up there with a crane?

They should’ve parked a caravan on top, Clarkson would’ve come and destroy it.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k4Xk1mEwmI[/video]

1768ft tall, made out of bits of Meccano and supported by strings! I’d take the cranes any day I think.

I know those blokes earn good money

I very much doubt that. And I suspect that it is quite a bit less than a mobile crane operator. I would be surprised if height makes much if any difference to their rates.

Wonder how the driver of the excavator-on-chimney gets to and from the cab at the start and end of the working day . . . . ?

Can’t help but think that Fred Dibnah’s way of demolishing a chimney was much more fun 😀

Pocket shepherd, i’d forgotten how terrifying that clip is!

PocketShepherd – Member

1768ft tall, made out of bits of Meccano and supported by strings! I’d take the cranes any day I think.

Bloody hell there should be a health warning watching that clip as my heart nearly stopped … 😯

I had to stop the video at 3 minutes. Terrifying. Sweaty palms is the worst response to being intimidated by heights. I don’t understand that.

Would that be the ‘shard’ with the crane on?

Jebus. That antenna station climb is something else.

I particularly like the comment on the youtube site

“It must be hard to climb with balls that big”

You’ve got to have some stones to free climb that.

I used to climb & rig the towers for a living..

As for good money?

£250+ a day was about the aveage rate, so I can’t complain..

Its great fun..

Mind, the tallest Ive climbed on a lattice tower was 1100ft.

Took about 1hr 30m to climb on a 8mm rung ladder 😐

This is me on a tower about to fixt the AWL… it’s only about 400ft up tho…

I’ve rock-climbed and jumped out of perfectly good aeroplanes, and that aerial video always gives me the fear.

Teetosugars, are you Zane Lowe? 😉

Teetosugars – you’re a brave man, I assume heights don’t bother you at all? How do you feel when you’re that high?

My fear is overwhelming sometimes, especially if I look up, nearly passed out going up the Effiel Tower.

I never got vertigo watching a video clip before… but I really didn’t like looking down on that

verses – Member
Teetosugars, are you Zane Lowe?

Haha.. No… We’re both from The southern hemisphere tho’ 🙂

Teetosugars – you’re a brave man, I assume heights don’t bother you at all? How do you feel when you’re that high?

I’m not scared of heights at all.. I respect them..

It’s a weird feeling at the top of the towers- you have an irrational urge to throw yourself off… 😐

I’d forgotten this thread. In a belated answer to redthunder, I wish it was a view from my office, my ‘office’ doesn’t have any kind of view, and I’m in Chippenham. That shot of The Shard was taken with my phone from the middle of the Millenium Bridge across the Thames as I left Tate Modern. I didn’t have time to walk down or catch a tube to get closer.

ernie_lynch – Member

I know those blokes earn good money

I very much doubt that. And I suspect that it is quite a bit less than a mobile crane operator. I would be surprised if height makes much if any difference to their rates.

all that money goes to pay for life insurance i shouldn’t wonder

I don’t think I’m scared of heights, but I couldn’t do that transmission tower. I just know I’d freeze.
Those tiny climbing pegs at the top! And does he actually unclip his safety harness before he mounts the final platform?

oh my good god that mast climbing video made me feel bad. hes totally unclipped at the top. brave or mental. seems to be a fine line.

The harness is there for a false sence of security, how would you rescue someone that high up hanging on their harness, after 20mins suspended in a fall arrest harness and you start to die slowly.

I’ve done my fair share of climbing with the missus, but that mast video had me terrified. It brought back the gnawing fear I experienced when I was sat cowering on a rocky ledge on Lanberis Pass a couple of years ago.

And yes, I do prefer to keep both my wheels on the ground…

I still can’t watch that video without my testicles retracting!

The harness is there for a false sence of security, how would you rescue someone that high up hanging on their harness,

Presumably after falling, you’d empty your trouser leg and then get back on the ladder again?

after 20mins suspended in a fall arrest harness and you start to die slowly.

Is that actually true?

Thinking about it,

That mast is over 1700′ tall. That’s high enough for a parachute to work. “There’s no quick way down…” – oh yes there is.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm7TLwFIh2c[/video]

after 20mins suspended in a fall arrest harness and you start to die slowly.

Is that actually true?

Less if anything – I was taught 10mins in my IRATA course.
Basically if you’re hanging inert (ie injured/unconcious)then you get very poor blood flow to your legs and the blood that’s in there goes manky. Post rescue – once the blood starts flowing again it can kill you pretty damn rapidly. I believe oxygen necrosis is the technical term. Basically translates into NEEDing a really efficient rescue procedure if you’re involved in fall arrest/work positioning.

That mast vid is pretty nuts. I wonder how much flex there is in it at that height.

should have climbed more trees when you was a kid 😯

1972 Liz treetop Shropham by Dicky Boy 500, on Flickr

Teetosugars – thank God you wear a hard hat. We’d worry for your safety otherwise.

Jesus wept. I cannot believe that video.

I very much doubt that. And I suspect that it is quite a bit less than a mobile crane operator. I would be surprised if height makes much if any difference to their rates

Hmmmm. Salaries increase with experience, and nobody employs a newbie on a 750m high crane…..

A quick google reveals salaries are in the scale of £20,000 – £50,000+ depending on experience, with the average being £40,000. It’s quite a specialist job. You need to be fit, have good hearing and eyesight and obviously a head for heights. It does pay well……. 🙂

Wtf with that crane vid? Really? Makes me think back to when I was young and stupid and climbed up a 30ft lamppost and hung from my knees to impress a lass but why would you do that?!? Drugs??

Just watched the antenna climb video, was thinking that it didn’t look too bad….then at 1:30 he goes ‘outside’…… 😯