“Working at night was planned into the budget,
since the Eiffel Tower already does most of its
tough-access work at night,” Mr. Gromadzki says.
“Night work is obviously more expensive, but as
long as it’s in the budget and the timelines are
not exceeded—and they were not in this case—it
doesn’t affect expectations.”
Stakeholders were also concerned the turbines
would cause disruptive vibrations because they were
mounted right above one of Paris’ classiest restaurants,
which is located on the second level of the tower.
To mitigate the possibility of loud or odd vibrations from the turbines during strong winds, UGE
added damper pads in the structure’s steel foundation. “Now the turbines are as quiet as a whisper,”
Mr. Gromadzki says.
have been so many additions over the years—
electrical equipment and HVAC, for example—but it
turned out okay.”
WITHOU T A TRACE
Tourist expectations also played a major role in
defining UGE’s project plan. Seven million people
visit the Eiffel Tower each year—and stakeholders
didn’t want a single one to be turned away during
construction. The attraction is open to the public
until 11 p.m. or midnight, depending on the time
of year, and the team needed to make its presence
as unobtrusive as possible. Although workers could
be operating on the tower during the day, major
equipment had to be hauled to the area and up the
installation site only after the tower was closed.
“We’ve done over 2,000 installations
worldwide, and we’ve never had to deal
with not being able to use cranes.”
—Jan Gromadzki, UGE, New York, New York, USA
