The president of construction firm BCM McAlpine last night thanked the public for their patience while a tower crane was moved from one building site in Pembroke to another.

Traffic was slowed from Saturday afternoon until about 5 p.m. yesterday as the mammoth piece of machinery had to be dismantled at the new apartment development on Victoria Road and moved to a new office site on Crow Lane, where it was put back together again.

President of the company Alan Burland thanked motorists and retailers for their co-operation, particularly Great Things and the Shell gas station on Crow Lane.

But he said except for half an hour yesterday, when the West End lanes of Crow Lane had to be closed completely while the tower crane was re-assembled, the traffic was allowed to flow continuously.

“We started to take it down on Friday night,” said Mr. Burland. “We had to lift off the pieces and break it into smaller pieces and then put it on a flat bed truck to move it.

“The only time we could do it was over the weekend when there was less traffic. The congestion would have been terrible during the week. But we would like to thank the public very much, including the merchants, for putting up with the inconvenience and being so patient.'

BCM McAlipine is building the new office block, Crow Lane House, on Crow Lane, which is being developed by Tony Smith and will enable Renaissance Re to extend their neighbouring premises.