Product Review – Hunnebeck ID15 Tower

ID15 is a stacking tower made by German manufacturer Hunnebeck. The system is a closed framed shoring comprising of 6 basic components which form into a tower with plan area of 1m squared and can be adjusted to any design height up to 30m and has a maximum carrying capacity of 200kN per tower.

The system is suited for use where high soffits require multiple height propping or in where heavy loads need to be supported and its applications range from commercial buildings, transfer slabs to motorway bridge decks. This is a very competitive equipment sector and there are many alternatives to ID15 on the market, from loose systems like Cuplock or Rapidshore, to similar framing systems like Staxo, PD8, T60, so how does ID15 compare?

Advanatges: ID15 has many positive characteristics. It is light-weight and it has only 6 components making it really easy and fast to assemble. The fact that there are only 6 components also make the logistics of stocking ID15 relatively simple for both the supplier and user compared to some of the more complex systems. It has the advantage that it can be assembled horizontally as well as vertically and it has a very respectable capacity of 50kN per leg. It is a long proven system and has been used on a number of high profile projects around the world including the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in UAE.

Disadvantages: Although this is a very capable system, it has some shortcomigs too. Here are some of the negative characteristics: its 50kN per leg capacity is not the highest on the market, it only has one configuration, it doesn’t have features such as cantilever brackets, ladders built into frames, and it is not as flexible as some of its competitors. It could be argued however that most of the negative characteristics actually contribute to the positive features mentioned previously, ie it is light, simple and fast to assemble because it doesn’t have complex features or use heavy tube sections.

Conclusion: We think that it is a useful, capable and user friendly system which strikes a good balance between strength plus features versus light weight and simple. It may not be the best solution in every case, but this is a good all round medium duty tower which has proven its worth over many years of service.